Project aims to connect Lethbridge and Coaldale with bike path

The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs (SACPA) hosted an information session Tuesday night with speakers discussing a bike path project that would link Lethbridge and Coaldale.

The project has been in the works since 2016, as pitched by the Link Pathway Society.

The pathway system would be approximately 15 kilometres long and connect Henderson Lake Park — via 10 Avenue S. and 43 Street — to the Birds of Prey Centre, through land owned by the St. Mary’s River Irrigation District (SMRID).

“It’s all about linking communities, so we’re going to link Coaldale with Lethbridge,” Doeve said.

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Paved trails would run along the SMRID irrigation canal, and will provide a safe alternative to riding bikes or walking along the highways in the county.

Christine Clark, a board member for BikeBridge Cycling Association, said that families who may not have been adventurous on bikes before will now have a safe space to do so.

“Having a safe space where people can get out on their bikes and ride a long distance without fear of having to compete with traffic, it’s a really big positive for the bike community,” Clark said.

The project received the initial support of the Town of Coaldale, Lethbridge County and the SMRID in 2016, before Lethbridge City Council voted unanimously in favour of it in September of 2017.

“We’ve had unanimous political support,” Doeve said. “They have all unanimously supported it and they’ve all backed it with dollars and with commitments in-kind, to facilitate the finishing of this project.”

Doeve said that Link Pathway plans to have Phase 1 — the first five kilometres of the trail — complete by this fall.

Alvin Fritz, the lead architect and urban planner on the project, said that a lot of thought has gone into the route, which is all but complete.

“We still have some segments where we have to connect,” Fritz said. “We’ve talked to some landowners… and we’re not talking a very major strip of land. The pathway is relatively narrow, given the open fields, so to run it along a property line or something like that becomes quite reasonable.”

Doeve and Fritz said Tuesday that they hope to have the entire project complete in the next two to three years.