The last stretch of the final length of the multi-use pathway connecting the centre of Terrace to the Kalum River Bridge has now been paved.
Work began last year from the Frank St. intersection with Hwy 16 on the final mile of the Grand Trunk Pathway west to the Kalum River Bridge.
But work on the portion of the pathway through the Kalum Motel property was held up pending the city using its powers of expropriation to secure a right of way this year. That happened after the property owners and the city could not agree on a real estate sales transaction.
All that is left are landscaping and amenities, said city communications officer Kate Lautens.
“We are in the process of identifying the exact locations for placement of benches and garbage cans, which we are aiming to install this year, weather permitting,” she said.
“The remaining landscaping is also slated for completion this fall.”
This final portion of the pathway providing a safe and more accessible route for pedestrians, joggers and cyclists cost approximately $1.4 million and was financed by a series of senior government grants.
One cost factor was a decision by city council to add lighting, something that was not done along all of the pathway route.
The first portion of the Grand Trunk Pathway in the middle of the city was completed in 2000 leading to its commonly-known nickname as the millennium trail.
Completion this year of the full pathway is also sparking another city initiative and that is to name it after Charles and Emma Nelson, a prominent Tsimshian couple living at Kitsumkalum in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The pathway takes its name from the Grand Trunk Railway, the first railway through the area.
Terrace Mayor Sean Bujtas, introduced the idea in June, saying a name change reflects the connection of Kitsumkalum, just west of the Kalum River Bridge, to Terrace because of the trail.
It’s also fitting, Bujtas continued, because Charles Nelson was injured and became lame when he and his dogsled were lifted up and thrown aside by a railway snowplow during a snowstorm.
“And now we have a safe passage between the City of Terrace and Kitsumkalum,” he said in June.
Charles Nelson died in 1930 at the age of 62 and Emma Nelson died in 1959 at the age of 105.
The city is now waiting for a response from the Kitsumkalum First Nation about the renaming.