Long-standing Okanagan Rail Trail gap narrows as new sections open
New trail construction near Kelowna International Airport and Lake Country brings the regional route closer to completion, although 2.6 kilometres through Duck Lake Indian Reserve No. 7 remain unfinished.
Cyclists travel along the Okanagan Rail Trail. New sections north of Kelowna International Airport and in Lake Country have opened, bringing the regional route closer to completion.
City of Kelowna photo
OKANAGAN — New sections of the Okanagan Rail Trail are open north of Kelowna International Airport, closing much of a long-standing gap in the regional walking and cycling route between Kelowna and Lake Country.
The City of Kelowna announced Aug. 5 that a 3.2-kilometre section north of the airport through City-owned land has reached completion. In Lake Country, a 500-metre section north of Beaver Lake Road has been improved, including the addition of a new crossing light. The City and District of Lake Country intend to pave the sections in the future.
Work has also been completed on the Rail Trail section adjacent to Airport Way, creating a more consistent cycling route. Existing pedestrian and cycling pathways along Airport Way will remain in place.
The work closes much of a gap that has kept the Okanagan Rail Trail from becoming one continuous completed route between Kelowna and Coldstream.
The latest construction has increased the continuous portion of the trail to approximately 46 kilometres. Once fully completed, the trail is expected to stretch 49.5 kilometres from downtown Kelowna to Coldstream.
Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas said the new section provides a safer alternative to travelling alongside Highway 97 and represents another step toward a fully connected regional trail.
The latest phase has also received substantial community support. More than 5,000 donations raised $900,000 for the project through the Okanagan Rail Trail Initiative, according to the City.
Federal and provincial funding helped develop the broader Rail Trail several years earlier.
In 2018, the federal government announced a $1.36-million contribution through the New Building Canada Fund. The project had also received $471,500 through the Canada 150 Infrastructure Program, bringing support through the two federal programs to about $1.83 million.
The province contributed another $1.28 million through BikeBC and the Rural Dividend Fund.
The trail now records about 600,000 visits each year, according to the City of Kelowna.
Final 2.6 kilometres tied to historic reserve lands
Despite the latest construction, 2.6 kilometres remain unfinished while a land-transfer process involving the Government of Canada, CN Rail and Okanagan Indian Band continues.
The reason reaches back more than a century.
According to Okanagan Indian Band's Lands Department, Duck Lake Indian Reserve No. 7 was allotted to OKIB in 1877.
Around 1912, the provincial legislature authorized Canadian Northern Pacific Railway Company to build a railway between Vernon and Kelowna, known as the Kelowna Line. That same year, the federal government authorized the sale of a 17.56-acre right-of-way through the reserve to the railway company.
In 1926, the federal government transferred those corridor lands to Canadian Northern Pacific Railway by letters patent. The railway company was later amalgamated with CN Rail around 1956.
CN Rail discontinued its use of the Kelowna Line in 2013. In 2014, CN sold the right-of-way lands for the Kelowna Line, except for the Duck Lake Rail Corridor lands, to the City of Kelowna.
OKIB says CN has indicated it is prepared to return the Duck Lake corridor lands to Canada so they can be restored to the reserve. Efforts to complete that Addition to Reserve process are continuing.
When construction on the latest Rail Trail sections began in March, Okanagan Indian Band Chief Dan Wilson said work with Canada was still required to ensure the section through IR 7 is recognized as reserve land under OKIB jurisdiction.
The City said at the time that trail construction and public access through the approximately 2.6-kilometre section also require approval from OKIB Council and that the section would not formally open until the land transfer was finalized.
That process remains unfinished.
The City's Aug. 5 update says signage is in place through the incomplete section and advises users to use caution if they continue through those areas. A City background report published the following day describes portions of the unfinished route as gravel.
The City says it will continue working with its partners toward completing the remaining connection.
The Bald Range wildfire threatening Summerland and Peachland remained the most critical wildfire emergency in the southern Interior Sunday, growing to more than 13,600 hectares as another evacuation order was issued west of Penticton.