Panel urged to make trails universally accessible

City officials hope to have the Rossdale trail east of the Walterdale Bridge open sometime this year, once work is completed.

“They didn’t have a firm timeline on it, but the goal is to get that done during this construction season,” Mayor Don Iveson told a news conference Monday after an executive committee meeting where universal access to trails (for those who are disabled) was discussed.

The Rossdale trail connection from the Walterdale Bridge to 94 Avenue has been closed since 2013 when construction of a new bridge began, said an executive committee report on an assessment of the city’s trails.

While closed, the asphalt experienced severe deterioration and in some places was taken over by vegetation, the report said.

Sierra Club Canada is requesting that instead of asphalt, trails be laid with crushed aggregate or gravel, making it easier for those in wheelchairs to use them.

When roots start to poke out of asphalt, causing it to crack, it becomes treacherous for people in wheelchairs, said Charles Richmond, the club’s urban issues co-ordinator.

“They can tip a chair,” he said. If crushed gravel is used, roots can be filled over, packed and smoothed out, he said.

And crushed gravel trails, Richmond said, are easier and less expensive to maintain.

“We feel that access to nature is really important, especially to folks whose normal life is confined to the boundaries of accessibility by chair,” he said.

Iveson said the notion of universal access, or barrier-free accessibility, would mean ensuring trails don’t have slopes that are difficult for people to navigate, particularly wheelchair users.

And most city trails meet that standard, he said, although there are some because of the geography and terrain of the North Saskatchewan River valley that need switchbacks to stabilize the slopes.

To help people avoid stairs, Iveson said the city put in the funicular near the Hotel Macdonald, and also is planning an LRT stop near the Muttart Conservatory.

Richmond said he is sure the city will make trails more accessible, mimicking those required by the American Disabilities Act, which recommends anything from pavement to fine gravel and even engineered wood fibre to create an accessible trail.

“It’s a social justice issue,” Richmond said.

“If anybody needs nature, it’s folks who don’t often have the ability to get to it.”

We feel that access to nature is really important, especially to folks whose normal life is confined to the boundaries of accessibility by chair.