The Capital Regional District (CRD) manages 85 kilometres of pedestrian and bike paths consisting of the Galloping Goose and Lochside Trails. These facilities are the backbone of a 475 kilometre CRD cycling network which includes bike lanes on roads, trails and shoulders on selected roads. The Galloping Goose Trail provides a direct link for cyclists between the urban core and the fast growing suburbs in the western parts of the CRD and was constructed on an abandoned road alignment (a Rail _to_ Trail). A new trail being constructed by the CRD in 2009, the E&N Rail Trail, will be constructed within a railway corridor and alongside a functioning railway (a Rail _with_ Trail). The E&N Rail Trail will traverse two First Nations lands and five municipalities and will link all of these with Downtown Victoria. This paper outlines some of the design constraints, such as the narrow railway corridor and safety concerns for trail activities immediately adjacent to an operating railway line, and how the implementation of the E&N Rail Trail will add another valuable link to the CRD's pedestrian and bike path system. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD number E217481.
Abstract