Plans continue to develop a stretch of pathway in Six Mile Coulee, although that’s receiving push back from mountainbikers and trail runners.
Some groups want the area to stay as it is, natural and undeveloped. The upgrades would see about 3 kilometres developed with a narrow shale pathway and stairway access at the top of the trail.
Lethbridge Parks Manager Dave Ellis presented to City Council’s Community Issues Committee this week on the pathway, also known as the Pathway 24 Project. He says understands there are some people who aren’t happy about this.
“We’re not really doing this to oppose the mountain bike community,” stated Ellis. “We’re doing this to allow the public equitable access. This pathway is designed, it’s a hybrid, it’s narrower and a little more rugged. It’s more of a hiking trail than it is a multi-use pathway. So this is an evolution of our park pathway development.”
The Six Mile trail stretches from Lethbridge College to the Oldman River.
Ellis says there has been extensive public consultation on this proposed $1.8 million project over the past numbers of years. “I believe we’re at a crossroads. We need to start treating the Six Mile area and the park as a park or perhaps let it go and be a mountainbike playground.”
The area in question is a large one. It covers around 100 hectares and is used primarily by mountainbikers and trail runners. Ellis notes this plan would introduce that area of the Lethbridge River Valley to the general public.