Trails will continue to see some paint lines in the centre of them, but trail widening will be too expensive, city council decided on Monday.
A report on Waskasoo Park trails suggested that the trails could be widened to three metres from 2.5 metres. This would help give more room to manoueuvre and increase sight lines and visibility.
But council was told the widening was costly. It would range from $150 to $300 per linear metre. The parks budget for trail infrastructure repairs is $55 per linear metre and which lets the city repair about 1.8 km per year.
“As much as I would like to widen the trails . . . I don’t think the dollars are there for them,” said Councillor Cindy Jefferies.
Council was divided 5-4 in favour of retaining the city practice of painting a centre line on specific sections of the trail. Mayor Morris Flewwelling and Councillors Frank Wong, Chris Stephan, Dianne Wyntjes and Lynne Mulder supported the move, but Councillors Tara Veer, Buck Buchanan, Paul Harris and Jefferies were opposed for various reasons.
Centre lines are usually painted in areas where there are sharp corners, hills and areas of limited visibility.
Painting new lines is also costly — about $1,000 per km. Re-lining existing ones runs about $700 per km.
Veer said she doesn’t believe benefits of lining outweighs the costs. Aesthetically, it doesn’t look great, she added.
The only area she sees benefits are hills.
Parks superintendent Trevor Poth agreed that park etiquette is one focus that should be addressed by the city.
Lining creates some problems as well because it goes against the grain of sharing the trails, added Jefferies.
Harris suggested looking at different options for lining colours, instead of the current yellow, so they match with the park environment.
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