The better, smoother 100 Mile Marsh trail officially opened on June 4, and coincided with British Columbia’s Access Awareness Day.
Along with Cariboo-Chilcotin MLA Donna Barnett, District of 100 Mile House Coun. Dave Mingo was there to help do the official trail-opening honours. Then Mingo made two announcements involving accessibility news of interest for many area residents.
The district is going to pave the entire gravelled portion remaining on the pathway, he said.
Most of the trail is gravelled, with blacktop confined to the portion along the highway, where the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and Katchmar Construction paved it last year.
After that initial work was done, Aging with Disabilities Committee chair Shelly Somerville tested the trail with CARE (Creating Accessible Recreational Environments) Consulting’s Kary Fell who is confined to
a wheelchair.
At the time, Fell noted the pavement portion of the trail was much more usable for wheeled devices, and Somerville added their objective was to have the whole trail paved in the near future.
Now, they will have their wish, and that is “fantastic,” Somerville said.
“I’m absolutely delighted, as I’m sure all of our committee members are.”
Anyone who relies on a wheelchair or other wheeled device to get around can benefit from the paved path, she said, adding even parents with strollers or children on bicycles will have an easier time traversing the trail.
However, council didn’t stop at the new blacktop on the trail in its quest to improve accessibility throughout the district.
Mingo announced it has also purchased a concrete grinder that will buff up, or rather down, the sidewalks in town, to smooth over some bumpy transitions that exist at the crosswalks and into the parking lots.
Last summer, Mayor Mitch Campsall took up a challenge on a dare from Kelly De La Mare, an area resident who depends on a wheelchair to get around.
Campsall hopped in a wheelchair and rolled and bumped around town with De La Mare to experience first-hand how difficult it is to manoeuvre a wheelchair on and off district sidewalks.
Now, Mingo said, the municipality will take some action to smooth the way and pave the paths to more independence for disabled residents and visitors in 100 Mile.
District administrator Roy Scott noted the money to cover the costs of the paving and the grinder purchase was drawn from the district’s reserve funds.
Somerville added the curb grinding would benefit even more people, including anyone with any kind of ambulatory problems relating to uneven ground or stepping up.
