The Cycle 16 Trail Society has received 20 thousand dollars from the province for a conceptual design for a trail between Smithers and Telkwa.
Tony Harris with the society says the results of the conceptual design will be presented this Wednesday.
“What they’ve come up with is three potential routes along the highway corridor bearing in price from 4.5 to 5.5 million dollars,” says Harris. “One of the options is a bridge, the other option a tunnel, and another is running along the highway for the whole route – they all have their pros and cons.”
He says a board of directors will narrow down the final pick. Harris says they want to have the public’s wishes a part of the process.
So far, they have around 200 memberships for the society. Harris would like to see that up and over 1,000.
The society now has a total of 65 thousand for the project after the Rotary Club started things off with $15,000 in donations through an auction. Another $30,000 was generated through private donations, according to Harris.
They’ll have the open house and AGM at the old Church in Smithers this Wednesday starting at 6 p.m. marking the official launch of the society.