1 May 2006
CPR Deal Paves Way to Build Recreational-Cycling Trail
Hamilton and the Canadian Pacific Railway have finally agreed on a way to link up the Chedoke Radial
Trail and the Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail.
CPR has agreed to sell a part of a spur line to the city for conversion to trail use. The railway will also allow the public to use a
designated route through its Aberdeen Avenue rail yard.
The spur line runs east-west roughly between the rail yard and the start of the Brantford rail trail. It also includes a
disused CP rail overpass that provides a way over Highway 403. It would serve both as a recreational trail and as an east/west cycling
commuter route running parallel to, and as an alternative to Main Street West.
A plan to prepare a real estate report, conduct an environmental assessment, and develop a design and cost estimate for the city to
build the trail, will be submitted today to the public works committee. Council next Wednesday will ratify the initial plan, after which
negotiations with CP will officially begin.
The entire project is estimated to cost more than $1 million, said Ward 1 Councillor Brian McHattie. The funding for the project will
come partly from the city's cycling fund and partly from federal gas tax money. The trail would also connect to the Scenic Drive stairs
via the Chedoke Golf Course parking lot and give a potential access to downtown and to the McMaster Innovation Park.
McHattie says there is a potential to attract visitors from area communities by creating a continuous cycling network that would connect
Hamilton to Brantford via the Hamilton-Brantford rail trail.
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