Plans for a north-south pathway for walkers and cyclists connecting Coquitlam’s Burquitlam and Lougheed neighbourhoods got a funding boost from the province last week.
The 2.2-km Dogwood Fairview Citywide Greenway is expected to run from Clarke Road and Morrison Avenue down Dogwood and Fairview streets before eventually connecting with Brookmere Park on Austin Avenue.
Dan Mooney, Coquitlam’s manager of transportation, said Monday the project will mainly consist of installing signage and missing sidewalk segments, and marking the streets for a cycle path.
“It will be an improvement,” he said. “We don’t build these for any single-trip purpose. It will end up touching parks, schools, transit.”
One of the biggest hurdles Coquitlam has to contend with when building bicycle and pedestrian paths is topography — i.e., hills that are too steep for many walkers and cyclists. But Mooney said that the grades for most of the route are fairly easy to handle, with the steepest part in Brookmere Park.
“That’s where we can provide switchbacks and resting areas so pedestrians can stop and those that need to can take a break,” he said.
The plans are part of a city-wide network of bike routes and pedestrian pathways that Mooney said is starting to take shape to give residents more transportation choices. He noted that the Dogwood Fairview Citywide Greenway will run through the Foster Avenue bike path, which is a major east-west connection in southwest Coquitlam.
There are also plans for future routes that would see links running into Port Moody and Lougheed Town Centre.
“Things are starting to get tied together,” Mooney said.
The project will cost $1.1 million, with $280,000 coming from TransLink and the city and province splitting the rest, paying $422,000 each.
@gmckennaTC
