The push is on to close the gaps on the Trans Canada Trail, including a missing link from Langford to Shawnigan Lake.
The TCT foundation wants the 22,000 kilometre trail done by 2017, when the Canada turns 150 years old.
The designated Pacific terminus for the trail is at Clover Point. Victoria is working on getting the trail from there to the Galloping Goose trail, which begins at the Johnson Street Bridge.
Originally the TCT was to follow the full length of the Goose and continue on past Sooke Potholes, through the ghost town Leechtown and follow the former CN rail line to Cowichan Lake, the western most point on the trail.
But Harold Sellers, project facilitator for the TCT in B.C., said changing water levels in the Sooke reservoir quashed that plan.
B次元官网网址淚t was a setback, from the perspective of completing the trail,B次元官网网址� Sellers said, citing the years of work needed to secure a new connection to the next completed potion of the trail in Shawnigan Lake.
The current plan is to have the TCT break off the Goose near Luxton fairgrounds and veer northwest through undeveloped land into the Sooke Hills regional park, crossing Humpback Road, and continuing north through wilderness until it joins the rest of the trail.
The Capital Regional District is working within its boundaries to have designated right-of-ways created for portions of the trail that run through municipal or private property, and the Cowichan Valley Regional District is doing the same. But progress has been slow going.
CRD Parks manager Janette Loveys said thereB次元官网网址檚 been little movement in the past few years to secure several sections of trail, totalling about four kilometres, through private property. But with new pressure to complete the project, sheB次元官网网址檚 hoping to get negotiations moving again.
B次元官网网址淭hereB次元官网网址檚 more interest than ever in bike paths, especially with Langford investing new money in trails,B次元官网网址� Loveys said. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e not expecting much trouble, itB次元官网网址檚 just a matter of getting things going again.B次元官网网址�
Loveys is optimistic land negotiations will wrap up within a year, but trail construction wonB次元官网网址檛 begin until the CVRD is ready to start on its end and meet in the middle, likely in 2015.
B次元官网网址淲e both need to start at the same time so we arenB次元官网网址檛 just making a trail that stops in the middle of nowhere,B次元官网网址� Loveys explained. B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e planning to have it all done by 2015, so it will definitely be finished by the deadline (in 2017).B次元官网网址�
Loveys said it was too early to say how much the project will cost, but pointed out that itB次元官网网址檚 something the CRD has been planning for some time and has money set aside. There are also grants available through the TCT foundation.
No bridges are needed on the CRDB次元官网网址檚 section of the trail. Loveys said the majority of the path will be unpaved gravel, similar to much of the Goose. There will be some ups and downs, but nothing the average trail user isnB次元官网网址檛 used to.
B次元官网网址淭here will be a variety of experience, going through the forest and around lakes, it will be a beautiful section of trail,B次元官网网址� she said.
From Shawnigan lake, the TCT continues to Cowichan lake, crossing the recently re-opened Kinsol Trestle, and back through Duncan and to the Nanaimo ferry terminal for trail users who want to continue it onto the Mainland and potentially all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.
See www.tctrail.ca for more on the Trans-Canada Trail.
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