Construction is expected to begin very soon after Town of Osoyoos council voted Monday to approve the tender from an Osoyoos company to pave parts of the popular Canal Trail.

The trail is very popular for local residents who like to take a long walk without having to cross Hwy. 3.

The first phase of the paving project is $120,000 has been awarded to Osoyoos Aggregates. After lengthy discussion during Monday’s regular meeting of council, councillors voted unanimously in favour of paving the south section of the Canal Trail located near Osoyoos Secondary School, extending to Hwy. 3, plus another small section extending to the Desert Rose subdivision on the highway.

Lighting will be included to benefit those taking a walk along the canal, but not for the small stretch heading towards the Desert Rose subdivision.

The original bid for this phase of work was over $200,000 in the capital budget, so council supported the idea of seeking further tenders to create a rest area near the northern end of the Canal Trail, as well as extending the paving project to the trail north of the highway leading towards Osoyoos Airport.

Funding for this part of the project will come from the Resort Municipalities Initiative

Barry Romanko, the town’s chief administrative officer, told council that the town had applied to try and get funding to pave the Canal Trail through the federal Canada 150 infrastructure funding program, but that application wasn’t successful.

However, that program continues to accept funding applications and he recommended the town re-submit an application, which was supported by council.

If the town were to receive funding through that program, it would go directly into further enhancement of the Canal Trail paving program, he said.

The Canal Trail paving program is “the town’s only shovel ready program and staff is very supportive of awarding the contract to Osoyoos Aggregates and having construction begin as quickly as possible, said Romanko. Now that the contract has been approved, it’s expected the local contractor will begin preparing the site for construction within days.

KEITH LACEY

Osoyoos Times