Moncton plans to start Panacadie Trail this year with new boardwalk
City has budgeted $1.1 million for first phase of route linking riverfront with Mapleton Park
Moncton plans to begin a seven kilometre addition to its city trail network this year that would link the riverfront with Mapleton Park.
The Panacadie Trail would roughly follow Halls Creek northwest to the park.
The city has budgeted to spend up to $1.1 million this year to start the first phase of the trail, including 220 metres of wooden boardwalk near Halls Creek, though set back from the tidal waterway.
"So this is going to be a nice, long stretch of boardwalk," Catherine Dallaire, Moncton's general manager of recreation, culture and events services, said in an interview.
"It will be certainly wide enough to accommodate both cyclists and pedestrians and will also be an opportunity to access a part of the city that people typically don't walk through."
The name of the trail is based on the name Acadian settlers gave the waterway that's now called Halls Creek.
The creek winds though a largely undeveloped area the city calls the Vision Lands past the University of Moncton campus and then by the Route 15 traffic circle.
The trail would roughly follow the same route. Dallaire said it may take five to seven years to fully complete the trail.
The first phase of the trail would involve an accessible access point from the riverfront trail connecting to King Street. The trail would use the sidewalk, connecting then to Andrew Lane which runs to the rear of the Main Street Superstore building.
From there, the city envisions 220 metres of wooden boardwalk above the marsh that would connect to the city's east end pool site. The trail would then follow Fergus Street out to the intersection of Botsford Street and Wheeler Boulevard.
The timing for work on the section between Mapleton and Morton Avenue will depend on development in the Vision Lands, Dallaire said. The section through the university will be done in collaboration with the institution.
Dallaire said engineering and design work is still underway for the first phase, with staff expecting to go to city council to get approval to begin construction later this year.
She said if that approval is received and construction goes well, the hope is to have the boardwalk portion open by next spring.
The trail has been part of the city's long-term active transit plans for years. Another future trail in the plan would link Mapleton east to Irishtown Nature Park.