One of the things that has become clear during the COVID-19 state of emergency is the importance of parks, trails, and paths.
Metro Vancouver Regional District’s new Regional Greenway 2050 plan outlines some of the benefits of trails and greenways including:
- Promoting physical and emotional health
- Protecting nature and restoring habitat
- Mitigating climate change
- Providing more opportunities for active living
- Enhancing tourism and business development
In our region today, we have a mix of trails and paths that are operated by the Metro Vancouver Regional District, TransLink, municipalities, and the provincial government.
The goal in the Regional Greenway 2050 plan is to build out 830 kilometres of interconnected multi-use trails and paths throughout our region. About 480 kilometres is built today.
The following map outlines the current network in green, what is planned in yellow, and proposed new additions to the network to fill-in any gaps in red.
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| Proposed Greenway Network in Metro Vancouver. Select image to enlarge. |
In Langley City, our contribution to the network is complete, but there is significant work left to do both in Surrey and the Township of Langley. One of the proposed additions to the regional network would skirt around Langley City from the Langley Airport to Glover Road.
Most of the responsibility to build out this network will rest with municipalities. This means that the build out of the network is dependent on each municipalities’ internal priorities.
If the Metro Vancouver Regional District wants to see this network built out at an accelerated schedule, regional funding would be required. With COVID-19 recover top-of-mind, this regional vision might be a good candidate for future economic recovery funding.
1 comment:
This will not happen with 22 different cities. Thats why MVRD/TransLink should do it via the taxes they collect each year.
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