Fuhr speeds along walking trail
Construction of the Okanagan Rail Trail will happen more quickly than anticipated with the receipt of another $1.3 million federal grant.
The money will be used to develop the 49-kilometre path, along an abandoned railway corridor, from Coldstream to downtown Kelowna.
“This is a great way to repurpose old infrastructure to meet current community needs,” Kelowna-Lake Country Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr said Thursday.
Last year, Ottawa contributed nearly $500,000 toward the Rail Trail. Total cost of the path’s construction is estimated to be $7.8 million, of which almost three-quarters has been collected in a community-based fundraising drive.
“This is indeed a happy day for the Okanagan, for the Rail Trail,” Duane Thomson, a Lake Country resident who has long campaigned for the public acquisition of the former railway and its conversion to a recreation path.
“This is a big-time boost for this project,” agreed Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran, at a Lake Country press conference where the federal funding was announced.
Long but unconnected sections of the trail will open for public use this year. The City of Kelowna is paving that portion of the trail that extends from the city to UBC Okanagan, but other sections will be made of finely crushed aggregate.
Once the trail opens, expectations are it will draw tourists interested in seeing the Okanagan’s lakes, orchards, and farms from a previously unknown perspective.
“This could be an economic driver for the Okanagan,” Lake Country Mayor James Baker said.