The Meewasin Valley Authority is currently working on 3 ongoing projects to enhance trails in the community.

Alan Otterbein, Manager of Design and Development, says the goal of enhancements to the River Heights trail, Southwest Trail and Downtown trail boils down to providing access to trail users and address the needs they are seeing over time.  Otterbein says a recent trail study projected trail use would double over 30 years, and each year they are seeing numbers increase.  In 2020 Otterbein says trail counters estimated 1.9 million users which represents a jump of over 200 thousand people from 2019.  Enhancements he says will accommodate those users and address the age of the infrastructure.

Engagement sessions for the River Heights Trail and site enhancement will took place virtually this week.  Otterbein says their original engagement for River Heights and the Southwest took place in November and they received some feedback at that time that allowed them to make some changes to their design, which they showcased this week.  Details on that project can be viewed here.

Feedback is also needed on Meewasin’s “next trail” which includes improvements on the downtown trail that ties into the potential Festival Site, currently being discussed by city council. Otterbein says this is the most used trail with over half of their users