Grant would help link Rutland to rail trail

Rutlanders would get a speedier and safer link to the Okanagan Rail Trail if a hoped-for grant comes through.

Kelowna city council on Monday applied for a provincial grant aimed at helping municipalities recover from the effects of the COVID19 pandemic.

The money would be put toward a $2.6 million, one kilometre-long project to connect the existing western end-point of the Houghton

Road multi-purpose pathway with the Okanagan Rail Trail hiking and biking corridor.

“It’s a much-needed connection,” Mayor Colin Basran said.

The new link would run from Houghton Road, north on Lester Road, and east on Leathead Road/Enterprise Way across Highway 97 to the Rail Trail.

City council has already budgeted $2.6 million toward the undertaking in 2021 as part of the 10-year-capital plan.

But staff suggest the provincial grant, if approved for the full amount, would allow the city to earmark municipal funds for other such projects, which the city calls active transportation corridors.

Eventually, the Houghton Road multi-use pathway will be extended in the other direction from Hollywood Road to Rutland Centennial Park in a project currently estimated to cost $5 million.

The city’s 10-year capital plan shows spending on that project between 2022 and 2026.