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Waterfront Trail and Greenway News
An Ezine Produced by the Waterfront Regeneration Trust
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COIP*The waterfront municipalities of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, conservation authorities and community groups* MapArt* Dunmap*Regional Niagara Bicycling Committee* The MMM Group* Heart and Strok Foundation* Mountain Equipment Co-op
June 2008
In this Issue:
- September 25th Partners Meeting
- First Annual Great Waterfront Trail Adventure Begins—Follow the Adventure by visiting Kate Harries’ Blog
- A Signed Scarborough—City of Toronto installs Waterfront Trail signs on approximately 7 kms of Scarborough
- Greenbelt Express/Toronto Niagara Bike Train launches a second successful year
- MetroLinx—Regional Transportation Plan for the GTA
SEPTEMBER 25TH PARTNERS MEETING – PLEASE ADVISE US OF YOUR
PLANS TO REGISTER
Please make sure you save September 25th in your calendar to join us for a day-long workshop in Ajax. The Program for the September Waterfront Partners meeting and workshop includes:
- results of the first annual Great Waterfront Trail Adventure
- plans for Year two of the Great Waterfront Trail Adventure
- infrastructure projects—closing the Gaps.
There will be a modest charge for the workshop to cover expenses. Please email me at da@wrtrust.com, if you plan on attending.
FIRST ANNUAL GREAT WATERFRONT TRAIL ADVENTURE BEGINS – FOLLOW
THE ADVENTURE BY VISITING KATE HARRIES’ BLOG
We are just one day away from the exciting launch of the Great Waterfront Trail Adventure. The first year has already exceeded our expectations. Some highlights:
- Registration was sold out by June 1, 2008
- Over 30 people have indicated an interest in next year’s journey
- Media in Burlington, Hamilton, Niagara, Toronto, Cornwall have provided pre-event coverage.
- Four reporters including one from the Ottawa Citizen will join the Adventure for one or more days
- Health Promotion Minister Best will launch the Adventure in Niagara on the Lake
- Tourism Minister Fonseca will participate in the Toronto section of the Adventure
- Jim Brownell, MPP for Cornwall will make an important announcement concerning the construction of a welcome kiosk at the border of the Ontario and Quebec provincial trail systems.
If you want to check out how we are doing, be sure to visit the Trust’s
website and click on the connection to Kate Harries’ Adventure Blog
at http://www.kateharries.blogspot.com/.
Kate is no stranger to the Waterfront Trail. In 2002, she embarked on
an end to end tour with the Trust. Her 6-part feature of her first end
to end Trail experience, put the Waterfront Trail back on the map for
many people.
The Great Waterfront Trail Adventure is generously supported by the Ontario
Trillium Foundation, The Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion, The Heart
and Stroke Foundation and CIBC.
A SIGNED SCARBOROUGH – CITY OF TORONTO SIGNS APPROXIMATELY 7 KM
OF SCARBOROUGH
The City of Toronto has installed Trail signage on an interim, street-based
route for the Waterfront Trail from Bellamy to Highland Creek in Scarborough.
The route uses the new Toronto Bike routes identified for the same area.
At Highland Creek, the Trail dips down to the water’s edge on the
section of Trail constructed by Toronto Region Conservation in 2005. With
the installation of this signage, the Scarborough Gap has been reduced
to approximately 10 km from The Beach to Bellamy. (Just in time for the
arrival of the Adventure!)
Our thanks and congratulations to City of Toronto Councillor Ainslie,
Dan Egan and Dave Dunn for their work in securing this route.
THE TORONTO-NIAGARA BIKE TRAIN IS THE GREENBELT EXPRESS!
On Friday June 27, Justin Lafontaine launched the second year of the
successful Toronto-Niagara Bike Train. Thanks to funding provided by the
Greenbelt Foundation, the Trust was able to serve as project administrator
for the Bike Train.
In our greetings, the Trust pointed out that last year’s popular
pilot program has whet an appetite for this kind of service from VIA.
Many of the registrants on the Great Waterfront Trail Adventure will use
the Bike Train to get to the start point in Niagara on the Lake. They
love it and they want to see the service expanded to include more locations
and times.
Congratulations Justin and VIA Rail.
METROLINX – REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLAN
The Trust participated in one of the stakeholder workshop hosted by Metrolinx to assist its development of a Regional Transportation Plan for the GTA. The workshop was attended by a broad range of groups and stakeholders all committed to establishing a well-connected inter-modal network that will make use of trail systems and bike lanes in understanding the system. In the coming weeks, Metrolinx will be posting on our website a report on the workshops and the feedback that they received.
A draft plan will be presented to the Metrolinx board at the end of July,
and stakeholder consultations on that draft will begin in late August.
You can also comment on all of Metrolinxs materials through our website
at www.metrolinx.com.
Cheers!
Marlaine Koehler, Executive Director;
Vicki Barron, Director of Administration and Special Projects;
Petrina Tulissi, Manager of Promotions and Events;
Ian Lobb, Tour Director, Great Waterfront Trail Adventure
Tour; and
and David Arcus, Project Coordinator, Editor Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail
News
The Waterfront Regeneration Trust
372 Richmond Street West, Suite 308
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 1X6
Tel: 416-943-8080
Fax: 416-943-8068
Email: info@wrtrust.com
Visit http://www.waterfronttrail.org
to download 77 online colour maps of the Waterfront Trail, from Niagara-on-the-Lake
to Brockville!
Thank You to our Supporters!:
- CIBC
- The Lake Ontario waterfront municipalities, conservation authorities and community groups
- The Eastern Lake OntarioSt.Lawrence Waterfront Working Group
- MapArt
- Dunmap
- Niagara Freewheelers Bicycle Touring Club
- Regional Niagara Bicycling Committee
- St. Lawrence Cement
- The Trust would also like to thank the Canada-Ontario Infrastructure Program (COIP) for its generous support of the 51 projects that comprise the Lake Ontario Waterfront Investment Program.
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