The newest part of the Trans-Canada Trail in the region will be holding it’s grand opening this Saturday.
Although there has been infrequent work on the Athabasca to Colinton trail for years, it’s only been since 2012 that there’s been a big push to finish it.
Linda Strong-Watson, executive director of Alberta TrailNet, said, “The County of Athabasca has given permission for us to the use an undeveloped road allowance to develop a trail and that road allowance has never been developed as a road, it’s just a right of way. And it goes through some very sandy, but also some quite wet areas.”
In order to deal with the different areas, they brought in a specialized product to provide further ground stabilization to make it possible for equipment to go across the trail.
The specific product, called Neoweb, is used in the oilsands and along sand dunes and works by using cells to trap the fill used in constructing the base. This enables the use of lower grade infill, such as sand, in the structure of the trail.
“In this particular case, this is a non-motorized trial,” she said.
“However, horses and wagons will be using it. So, that requires a wider surface than if you’re walking or cycling. So, obviously you get heavier weights on it when you get horses and wagons moving along it.”
Strong-Watson hopes that the trail will be used quite a lot.
“There’s a saying that if you build it they will come, and that’s certainly our hope for this section of the trail,” she added.
“It’ll give people the opportunity to get out and be able to recreate in an off-road environment and it really is a beautiful area in the province, I have to say. I’m hoping that people will take advantage of the opportunity and responsibly use this new piece of trail.”
The grand opening will take place from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the trailhead in Colinton. There will be speeches by invited guests, refreshments and wagon rides.
“We’re all quite excited about it. There’s been an awful lot of hard work and some quite innovative trail construction approaches that have been applied out there,” she said.
“So, I think everybody will enjoy this. We’re hoping for a nice looking day.”
