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Final phase of construction begins on Moncton’s Northwest Trail

MONCTON – Construction began Monday on the final stage of the Northwest Trail, a pedestrian and cyclist path that will connect the north part of Moncton to the downtown core.

The final 1.8 km section of the trail will run along the south side of Berry Mills Road, connecting already existing trails on Edinburgh Drive with ones along Millennium Boulevard.

Currently, cyclists wanting to travel along the trails must drive along Berry Mills Road, sharing the way with vehicles, including transport trucks that are heading to Hwy 15.

The new trail, which will cost the city about $800,000, will be separated from other traffic.

“The bike lanes and trails provide a little safe, more comfortable environment for adults and particularly families,” said Jocelyn Cohoon, Director of Leisure Services, for Parks and Leisure Services.

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The construction, which runs until the end of October, is part of the city’s Active Transportation Plan, which is trying to promote alternative ways to get around the city. Construction on several trails will run until 2018.

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“We also have bike lockers, bike racks – those types of things to make it easier for people to use alternative modes of transportation,” Cohoon said.

Having more bike-racks available is a key issue for Amanda Hachey, a cycling advocate in the city.

“Sometimes when you go to park your bike, there’s nothing to attach it to,” she said. “So I think if businesses can put a small bike-rack out front, it’s really encouraging. People can bring their bikes and they feel more comfortable knowing it’s safe leaving it out front.”

“Putting bike racks behind in dark spots, that’s really not encouraging,” she added.

Hachey is the co-founder of La Bikery Co-operative, a community bicycle centre. It works as both a repair shop and information centre that tries to teach both cyclists and drivers to be more comfortable with sharing the road.

“It’s just a learning cycle,” Hachey said. “Recognizing that cyclists do have rules to the road and they’re similar to cars, not to pedestrians and I think people are confused about that.”

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Hachey said she has lived in both Sweden and Vietnam and was impressed with their cycling culture, which inspired her to bring that culture to Moncton.

“Moncton is known as being a car city but it’s extremely flat and really relative to other cities that are cycle friendly or becoming more cycle friendly, like Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver. It’s really quite tiny and really quite cyclable,” she said.

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