THUNDER BAY -- The labour dispute at Confederation College has postponed the completion of a multi-use trail linking the City of Thunder Bay's recreational path network with the college.
A contractor has laid down the gravel for a 750-metre route connecting the trail adjacent to Golf Links Road to the college property.
Asphalt has to be applied before cold weather sets in, but the employees of the firm hired to do that are unionized, and are honouring the teachers' picket line.
Adam Krupper, Mobility Coordinator for the city, says city officials "are hoping that the college strike does resolve fairly soon...Right now, the gravel base is pretty much prepared. Asphalt doesn't do well in freezing temperatures when you're setting it."
The existing trail terminates at Golf Links Road and the Harbour Expressway on the west side. Krupper said the new link starts on the east side, then follows Golf Links Road "but more in the bush," then "loops around to go straight into the college by the bridge" over the McIntyre River.
Krupper said the addition to the trail network is a collaboration between the city and the college, and is important because it closes a gap.
"Over the past five years, the city worked hard to build this brand-new trail that follows Golf Links all the way from John Street. But we realized the trail didn't connect into one of the most active and busy areas in the city, which is the college."
A second phase of the project is scheduled to get underway next summer.
A new bridge will connect the trail over the McIntyre River to the college buildings so that recreational users don't have to cross on the existing automobile bridge.
Krupper said design work on the bridge is just starting.
