The Station View Trail has been temporarily closed since June 23 while InPower BC, the John Hart project contractor, re-routes the trail away from the construction area. The trail is now set to re-open on August 15 and will offer better views of the site construction and the Campbell River.
“Maintaining the continuity of the Canyon View Trail as much as possible during the five year construction phase was a significant issue for the local community during the project planning phase,” says BC Hydro spokesperson, Stephen Watson. “The Station View Trail will allow for that near seamless transition so that if one trail is closed, the other will remain open and allow the public to safely walk through the site. The trail will move several times over the next five years.”
Known as one of the most favoured trails in Campbell River, with about 75,000 trail users per year, the Canyon View Trail walk takes about one hour. As well, at least for now, people can go to the public parking lot beside the John Hart generating station and walk the shorter Station View/Canyon View Trail loop along the river and then around the surge towers before coming back to the parking lot.
“The views are impressive, as well as the perspective of walking near the base of those 90 metre tall surge towers,” adds Watson.
The view will be for a limited time. Around 2018, the trail will move again when the three 3.66 metre in diameter pipelines and two of the three surge towers are removed.
“There are a number of important community interests for this project, such as trails, so we wanted to build a nice wooden bridge over the three penstocks that the community will appreciate,” said Philip Whelan, Site Manager for SNC-Lavalin Pacific Coastal, leading the InPower BC contractor group. “It is a good design and the bridge looks great. As the project contractor, it’s important that we continue BC Hydro’s ongoing community engagement and support the community. This is an example of that.”
Eight local carpenters have spent about two months building the bridge. The wood was purchased from local supplier Home Hardware.
BC Hydro and InPower BC asks the public to obey site safety signage and keep away from the construction safety fencing. Unauthorized entry into the construction site is prohibited.
– Contributed by BC Hydro
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