MD of Bighorn councillors have agreed to support an initiative put forward by the Bow Corridor Regional Mobility Partnership (BCRMP) to seek funding to extend the Banff Legacy Trail from the Harvie Heights turnoff along the south side of the Trans-Canada Highway to Canmore.
The five members of council supported the request on Jan. 10, on the condition that “the distribution of actual costs are yet to be established,” according to a motion made by Councillor Carolyn Montgomery.
Assistant Municipal Manager Greg Birch told councillors the Town of Canmore has offered to co-ordinate grant applications required to raise the approximately $2.6 – 3.1 million needed to complete the final 2.2-kilometre section of the trail from the Harvie Heights overpass to the Alberta Tourism information centre.
“The engineers who prepared the estimate believed the $2.6 to 3.1 million range for the extension of the trail will be more expensive than the one we just completed (from Banff park gate to Harvie Heights),” said Bill Luka, the MD’s new director of operations.
According to Luka, the new section of trail could require substantial fill. Fencing along the CPR railway would have to be replaced and a pedestrian crossing at the Alberta Tourism information centre may be required, as well.
Birch said the BCRMP is not able to finish the trail without grant funding.
“There’s direction to complete this, but there is no money,” Birch said, adding all parties involved in the process, including Banff, Canmore and the MD, want to see the trail built on the south side of the highway.
“No one is focused on the Harvie Heights route, the costs are too high.”
To take the Legacy Trail across the Trans-Canada Highway to the paved trail that extends from Harvie Heights to Canmore would involve using the overpass. However, Alberta Transportation is reluctant to allow that until safety of cyclists and pedestrians can be assured and Birch said it would cost roughly $300,000 to upgrade the bridge even as an interim solution.
During discussion, Coun. Paul Ryan said he supported the initiative to find money to finish the trail, but was concerned the MD would be expected to maintain that section of trail even though it could funnel trail users through Bighorn without the municipality experiencing a benefit.
“We need to be brutally clear on what we agree to; I don’t want this support for the alignment to mean support for paying for maintenance,” Ryan said, adding the jurisdictions, regions and municipalities that benefit from the trail should pay for its maintenance.
“At this point in time, I don’t see any benefits to my jurisdiction.”
However, Ryan added if the trail was shown to benefit the MD he would have no problem if the municipality paid the applicable maintenance costs for that section of the trail.
“I want us to be seen as supportive and I want us to be seen as fiscally respecting ratepayers,” Ryan said.
Even though the trail’s location removes it from Harvie Heights, Coun. Reid Thomas said he believed the Legacy Trail would still benefit businesses in that hamlet.
“I believe that the MD will have a big opportunity even though it is not as significant,” Thomas said, referring to the effect the trail, once complete, will have on Banff and Canmore.
“I still think once this thing is built, I’d be promoting the heck out of my business as right adjacent to this wonderful facility and ‘by the way. my rates are cheaper.’
“I do believe we have a business opportunity here,” he said.
And while Coun. Carolyn Montgomery said she agreed with Ryan’s concerns about paying for something that provided no benefit to the MD, she said she expects, as Thomas said, that Harvie Heights businesses would see some benefit.
“We are a benefitting jurisdiction, there is no doubt about it,” she said.
Montgomery added she is worried the MD and its partners in the BCRP are back to where they started without an effective short-term solution in place until the trail is completed.
And while that may be the case, MD Reeve Dene Cooper said it is up to motorists and trail users to act appropriately.
“It’s painfully obvious that we need a better solution. Until then, we require competent drivers and cyclists to share responsibility,” he said.
Cooper added Bighorn has a role to play in development of the final leg of the Legacy Trail – a portion he has taken to calling the ‘Bighorn connector.’
“Bighorn has a role to play and I’m confident that council will share that role.”
