The Okanagan Rail Trail is coming along.
The Rail Trail Interjurisdictional Development Team unveiled a one-kilometre test section of the trail Saturday that has been developed over the past two weeks by Sureway Construction.
The trail has been widened with a smoother surface added in the section between McCarthy Road and Lodge Road in Lake Country.
麻豆精选 resident Sven Gravesen said he was looking forward to a bike ride with his grandchildren on the trail.
鈥淲e want to check out the few meters of the rail that we paid for,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e donated to the trail as this is very important to the community.鈥�
Originally from Denmark, he said it鈥檚 safer to cycle there, but 麻豆精选 is getting better.
鈥淭here are more bikes around but the bike paths are not what we hoped for. Just painting a stripe on the side of the road is not a bike path, it鈥檚 not safe so that鈥檚 why we like this,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e鈥檙e looking forward to biking the whole way.鈥�
A few different strategies were used to build the trail鈥檚 test section, said City of 麻豆精选 regional projects manager Andrew Albiston.
The test section allowed them to gain a better understanding of how the rail bed was initially constructed, he said.
It was a bright sunny day for the unveiling and the 鈥渘umber of people have been phenomenal. There鈥檚 lot of questions being asked and a lot of positive reviews,鈥� said Albiston.
The total cost for the kilometre is still being tallied.
Once completed, the trail will stretch 48 km from Coldstream to 麻豆精选. The project need鈥檚 just under $8 million to complete the trail. So far, the Okanagan Rail Trail Initiative has raised 63 per cent of its goal with funds from community members and companies.
In the fall, the next section of trail will be developed to connect the path from Dilworth Drive to UBCO in 麻豆精选. It will be completed in the spring of 2018, said Albiston.
