The Saugeen Rail Trail Association has been hard at work, improving the trail, and has more plans for next year.
Association President Dela Avle gave a presentation to Saugeen Shores councillors Monday, outlining the work the group of volunteers has been doing to improve and maintain the trail which runs through Southampton and Port Elgin.
Avle said over the course of 2024 they upgraded the trail surface between the 10th Concession and Highway 21, including extensive tree trimming. They also planted 20 trees and 20 shrubs along trail. They continue to do ongoing trail and garden maintenance and safety inspections
He added, “Hopefully, because we’re still in November, we might by the end of this year, have finished the resurfacing from Highway 21 to South Street, but that depends on the weather,”
In 2025, they’re looking to resurface the trail from South Street to McNabb Street and tidy up the brush in that area.
They also plan to plant more trees in partnership with Trees for Saugeen and the Town. There is also an intention to review and upgrade deficient trail access points and to repair or replace park benches.
The group continues to advocate for paved shoulders at the trail crossing on Hwy 21. They say it would improve safety and get rid of a tripping hazard, particularly for people with mobility devices.
Meanwhile, for years, people have advocated for a crossing at the trail and Highway 21, and the Town has been advocating to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation on their behalf, because it’s a provincial highway.
Avle told councillors, “This is an area that concerns a lot of people, so we hope we can get that resolved and it’s not a tragedy that forces us to do that, because I have been driving and seeing people just standing there terrified to cross, so that’s quite a bit of a problem.”
The Town’s Director of Engineering Ruhul Amin says representatives have made a delegation (January 2023) to the MTO, and since then he has sent ten emails to the ministry asking for an update, explaining, “The problem is they have so many changes in their staffing that they lost rack of the system. Every time I reached out to them I got a new person who is dealing with this thing.”
He says the MTO eventually sent a response which said it had facilitated several internal meetings to bring its functional offices back into discussions about the crossing. That MTO rep said they were waiting for additional comments to be submitted back to its corridor management office and it would pass those comments along when they became available.” Amin says that was in late June. He followed up in July and August and the last response from the MTO was August 27th which thanked him for his patience and noted its corridor management office was experiencing internal staffing changes and responsibilities and an unprecedented volume of permit inquiries. It said it would endeavour to further process the trail permits and additional approvals saying it would be made available shortly.
Amin says he hasn’t heard back since, and he’s emailed them in September, October and November.
Councillor Bud Halpin, who is the council representative on the Rail Trail Association Committee thanked volunteers for their work and noted, “The rail trail is a lot more than just a trail. It’s the benches, its the trees, it’s the birdhouses, it’s the facilities like the rail trail building and the memorial garden.”
He said, “It’s also the mobilization of all kinds of volunteers, formal and informal that do everything from putting up the birdhouses to cutting along the side.”
Halpin added, “I couldn’t imagine what our community would be like without that rail trail.”