The extension of the Legacy Trail at the west entrance to the Banff townsite is close to completion.
Parks Canada has completed its part of the extension from Vermilion Lakes Road to the Fenlands day use area and the Town of Banff has installed a bridge over 40 Mile Creek and now plans to finish off about 60 metres of paved trail to connect to the bridge.
Town of Banff officials say ramps to the bridge will be also constructed and the trail will be complete this spring, as soon as conditions permit. The price tag for the municipal portion of the project was $400,000.
“This is a great addition to the trail system that we already have,” said Adrian Field, the Town of Banff’s engineering manager. “It gets people safely from the town to the trail extension west and out to the 1A.”
Meanwhile, the final connection of the Legacy Trail at the east entrance to the Banff townsite is on the capital books for 2015. The approved budget is $350,000 for construction of a new section of trail and formal crossing.
The Town of Banff has been working with Parks Canada on the potential to add a new crossing at the end of the trail, as well as a new section of trail on the north side of Banff Avenue. Both would require a licence of occupation from the federal agency because the land is just outside the town boundary.
The Legacy Trail on Banff Avenue from its termination at Marmot Crescent is a missing piece in both the connection to downtown Banff and a connection for cyclists wanting to travel west to the junction of Highway 1A towards Lake Louise.
Westbound riders currently need to either illegally cross at the end of the trail, where there is no formal crossing, or walk their bikes along the existing sidewalk to the crossing at Marmot Crescent.
