Trail resurfacing through Kaleden expected to begin soon

PENTICTON – The regional district is anxious to get started on trail improvements in the Kaleden area as work continues resurfacing the former Kettle Valley Rail Trail south of Penticton.

Community Services Manager Mark Woods says the regional district recently issued a request for proposal for resurfacing of up to 4.2 kilometres of the trail between Kaleden and Penticton, with the hope of having work started on portions of the trail as soon as possible.

The request deadline is June 29, 2016.

“Our goal is to get to the Penticton Indian Band boundary north of  Banbury Green from Pioneer Park in Kaleden, but it will probably be done in several pieces,” he says.

Negotiations with private property owners Debi McGinn and Mel Reeves alongside of and just north of Alder Avenue are reportedly days away from completion, Woods says. Once tenure is secured through those properties, work will probably begin.

“We’re ready with the design and with funding. We could be in there this summer working,” he says, noting the asphalt base used to surface the trail binds much better under the summer heat.

Woods expects the work from Alder Avenue north to Banbury will be done through summer and early fall.

Access improvements at the entrance of the trail south to Okanagan Falls, at the south end of Ponderosa Avenue, were done last week, Woods says, with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure rebuilding the cup-de-sac at the end of Ponderosa.

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