The Coquitlam Crunch trail is expected to see some significant upgrades in the coming year.
City parks and recreation staff presented a report to council at Monday’s meeting outlining the twinning of the path in its most popular section between upper and lower Lansdowne Drive as well as future expansion that could link the trail to other hiking areas in the city.
“The Crunch trail system presents an exciting recreational opportunity for Coquitlam,” said a staff report. “The new trail system extensions together with future amenity enhancements along the existing Crunch Trail can take this trail system to another level.”
Staff envision the trail moving further north toward Eagle Mountain Park, eventually connecting with an existing trail system that would lead to Buntzen Lake along the utility corridor.
The report also noted a southern Greenlinks extension that would cross Barnet Highway to Dewdney Trunk Road before moving up the slope to Mundy Park. The trail would also link up with Colony Farm.
“These ideas will be further explored in the upcoming report on the Crunch trail planning process anticipated in September 2017,” said the staff report.
Twinning the popular lower to upper Lansdowne section, which has 400 steps, comes as staff work to keep the trail open during the construction of a new water main in the area.
While work is expected to start in October, the city will build an alternate path to avoid any disruption. When the water main work is complete, the existing trail will be rebuilt, thus twinning the path and adding capacity.
Expanding the network was just one of the ideas the city heard during a public feedback process on the Crunch that saw 1,741 people participate. Many respondents said they would like to see more washrooms, trail furnishings, fitness equipment, water fountains and improved viewpoints. Others asked for safer road crossings where the trail intersects with streets.
Andre Isakov, the city’s manager of park planning and design, said road crossing improvements are a priority.
“The crossing of particular focus is the Guildford Way crossing,” he said Monday. That is the one that is not signalized at all.”
@gmckennaTC
