The City of Cranbrook is continuing to focus on active transportation projects to improve movability throughout the community.
City staff say the highest priority projects will connect the downtown, north to Rails to Trails, Isadore Canyon and and Moir Park, south to Rotary Trail, existing 14th Avenue bike lanes and east to the college and community forest trails.
Facilitating these connections will impact parking and slightly narrow roadways across the city.
Engineering and development services director Mike Matejka recognizes it’s a big adjustment for a lot of residents, but these projects will also help move Cranbrook forward.
“We recognize that change is tough for a lot of our community and it’s something we recognize and do respect,” he said.
“As we look at adding these amenities, we can’t have everything everywhere and it does have impacts on other users. It’s an unfortunate part of implementing change.”
On the docket for the immediate future, the city will be constructing a multi-use path along McPhee Road from the Rails-to-Trails to Wildstone Drive using recently received grant funding.
It will eventually connect to Moir Park in the future.
In 2026 the city is expecting to make changes to McPhee Road from Theatre Road to Highway 3 and there are plans to connect the downtown to the College and Southview by changing the lane configuration of 2nd Street North and 14th Avenue to allow for dedicated bike lanes.
Be the first to know! Don’t miss out on breaking news and daily updates in your area. Sign up to MyEastKootenayNow News Alerts.