The City of Terrace has been successful in two provincial grant applications amounting to more than $700,000 which will improve cycling and walking within the city and west along Hwy16.
The largest grant, $500,000, makes up the majority of the money needed to extend the Grand Trunk Pathway, from its current end where Frank St. meets Hwy16 west, to the Kalum River Bridge just this side of Kitsumkalum.
While the extension is conceived as a recreational addition to the city, the existing portions of the Grand Trunk Pathway are also used by Kitsumkalum residents as a safe pedestrian and cycling route to and from the city.
This extension is to cost a projected $900,000 with the city to embark upon detailed design work likely later this year.
While the current Grand Trunk Pathway parallels Hwy16 to the south, the extension will run along the north side of the highway.
That follows a study indicating extending along the north side of the highway is less complicated and would be less costly than continuing along the south side because of the close proximity of the CN rail line.
The study prepared for the city by McElhanney Consulting and released last year calls for a three-metre wide paved surface with sufficient separation from Hwy16.
There would be some property acquisition required, the consulting company indicated.
The first section of the Grand Trunk Pathway was built in 2000 as a project signifying the start of the new millennium and so is popularly known as the Millennium Trail.
The second grant is for $217,866 and will finance the sidewalk and cycling lane portions of the $1 million project now underway to rebuild Munroe St. between Straume and McConnell in the Horseshoe.
The rebuild, one block of the two-block rebuild runs along beside Caledonia Secondary School, is 390 metres long involving a replacing water and drainage infrastructure, new base and sub-base, concrete curbing and paving.
This provincial grant means cyclists will soon have the benefit of a 1.8 metre wide lane while pedestrians will enjoy a 2.55 metre wide sidewalk. There’ll also be a transit and school bus pullout to better serve Caledonia Secondary students.