Grand opening of RR Trails is June 12th

By Ken Johnston
Editor

Several years of hard work and dedication will be celebrated on Wednesday, June 12, 2013 when the Grand Opening of the Rainy River Multi-Use Community Trails is held!
The trails project began in 2009 with a community needs survey conducted by the Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU). Heidi Ivall, of NWHU, said, “We wanted to see if there was community support for trails here.”
To their great satisfaction the response was overwhelming. “We set benchmarks and greatly exceeded them!” said Ivall last week. 97.3% of respondents were in favour of trail development.
Adding icing to that cake they almost immediately had many citizens agree to volunteer time to help develop and implement plans for the trail system. “There definitely was the community drive to get this done!” exclaimed Ivall.
In 2010 the Community Trails Planning Team (CTPT) was struck and the dream began to take shape. A community forum and early planning stages began. “We had an entire classroom full at the school for the meeting and many ideas were brought forward from the public and put into the plans,” explained Ivall.
Once the plans were inked a grant proposal was submitted and in 2011 secured from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Once the grant was approved construction of the 4.2 km trails began.
The trail head is at Heritage Square on Hwy. 11. The first leg of it utilizes sidewalks on Main Street for two blocks. Trail users can then travel west or east on Mill Ave. If they go west they travel two blocks and go down Sixth St to Hannam Park. In 2011 a portion of the trail was paved through the park and was completed in the spring of 2012. The paved portion runs from the head all the way to the school and back to the junction on Mill and Main next to the Masonic Lodge. At the school a “Green Way” path breaks off to the east and travels through the old Mill Yard past the Community Garden and then east to Tower Road and back around the Mill Yard.
The paved portion of the trails is 2.3 km long and is considered and “Accessible Trail” for users that can walk, ride bike, run, or travel via wheel chair or motorized senior scooters. The Green Way Trail runs an additional 1.9 km for a total trail network of 4.2 km.
Signage was installed in 2011 and 12, marking the head and trail routes.
There are several points of interest along the RR Trails. They include 4008 Railroad Museum, RR Hospital, Hannam Park, Community Garden, etc. There are also several rest stations with benches along the way and washrooms in the summer months at the park.
There are no motorized vehicles allowed on the trail and dogs must be leashed and cleaned up after.
Ivall said that the trails were in full usage in the summer of 2012. Many people walk, run or bike them daily. A Hike and Bike fitness program utilized them a lot last year.
At present Pat Berg is hoping to start a walking club on the trails. Contact Rec. Dir. Kam Kuzyk at the Rec. Centre (852-4446) if interested.
Ivall said the CTPT spent many many hours working on this project. They include, Heidi Ivall, Meaghan Shanks/Kam Kuzyk, Bob McGreevy, Nancy Johnson, George Johnson, Ron Mondor and John Scott.
The Grand Opening celebration will held at 11:45 a.m. at the picnic shelter at Government Dock on June 12th. All members of the public are welcome. After speeches from dignitaries a ribbon cutting will kick off a community walk. Refreshments will be available at a snack shack at Riverview School for people participating in the community walk.