The City of Nanaimo will create a multi-use path on Buttertubs Drive, thanks to a recent government funding announcement.
The B.C. government announced Thursday that Nanaimo was one of several Island communities receiving portions of $2.7 million through Bike B.C. to help pay for seven cycling infrastructure projects.
Bike B.C. is the province's cost-sharing program that helps communities build cycling projects to attract and support commuter and tourism cyclists. The funding is part of the government's 10-year transportation plan.
Nanaimo received $64,025 to create the new path on Buttertubs Drive.
“Each year we apply to the province for funding through Bike B.C.,” said Gordon Foy, city manager of transportation, said in an e-mail. “It's good news to see we have been successful in receiving $64,000 for this project – roughly 50 per cent of the multi-use path cost.”
The Buttertubs Drive multi-use path will connect Bowen Road with the Trans Canada Trail in Buttertubs Marsh and Menzies Ridge Drive to form part of a larger cycling corridor linking Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and the E&N Trail and connect existing cycling routes in north Nanaimo via Boundary Avenue with multi-use trails to the south through the Hawthorne Neighbourhood, Nanaimo Ice Centre and VIU.
Improvements along Buttertubs Drive will include a three-metre wide multi-use pathway, separated from the road, for cyclists and pedestrians.
Its construction is timed with the replacement of the Millstone trunk sewer over which it will be located. The improvements are part of a long-term plan to make it easier to travel by bicycle between the city’s largest destinations.