By Cheryl Lu

Rotary Trail won’t be finished until 2017

Sep 25, 2016 | 8:44 AM

The goal was to finish in 2016, but Prince Albert’s Rotary Trail won’t be finished until 2017.

Dave Fischl, chairperson of the Prince Albert Rotary Trails Committee, admitted there hasn’t been a lot of trail built this year.

“We always knew that this last piece was going to take a little bit longer,” he said. “It would be nice to say that we have the trail done this year, but it just didn’t happen.”

According to Fischl, the majority of the 23 km. trail is finished already, leaving only 1.5 km. to be built in the southwest corner of the city.

Fischl said the plan is to finish the area behind the hospital, and hopefully the piece around Lake Estates condominiums.

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Acquiring the West Hill land the trail will cover has been the largest issue in completing the trail.

Fischl said he’s optimistic about the negotiations underway with land owners on the West Hill. “Things are working very well in that direction,” he said. “What we are hoping for this year is that that area will be ready for pavement for next year.”

Another struggle is the undeveloped condition of the area currently under construction.

“When you’re working around the city and you’ve got right of way and areas that you can put the trail through…you just go ahead and do it,” Fischl said. “But if you got an area where it’s not developed yet, and there’s plans on development, it gets tougher.”

He said the goal is to tie the trail into current development in the area so they don’t have to remove it to make way for new construction in the area.

According to Fischl, the city is supportive on the issue and is working to find innovative ways to lay the trail in the appropriate place.

“We got a plan and I’m quite sure that…by 2017, we should have our trail around the city,” he said.

Finished parts of the trail are already open to the public. Fischl said he was pleased to see the trail get so much use.

Construction on the trail began in 2004.

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