Nelson will soon have an official leg of the Trans-Canada Trail, after city council gave its blessing to a route that would take hikers and bikers through the city’s downtown and along the waterfront.
The Nelson portion of the cross-country route will run from the Nelson-Salmo Great Northern Trail to the city’s waterfront pathway, before crossing the Orange Bridge and joining up with Highway 3A.
While staff say the route was designed to both show off the city’s downtown and avoid some of its steepest roads, at Monday’s regular council meeting a pair of councillors raised some concerns. Bob Adams and Robin Cherbo worried about the safety of sending cyclists through the city’s busiest intersections.
“People are not going to go that route if they’re travelling with a mountain bike and camping gear,” added Cherbo.
But councillor Kim Charlesworth said parts of the trail in other cities go through busier intersections with little hassle, and the route could be a first step to Nelson becoming a more “bike friendly town.”
Now that the route has been formally adopted, new way markers will be added and the Nelson portion of the path will be advertised on the Trans-Canada Trail’s website.