Millennium Trail upgrade

First phase of trail upgrade completed

In a short six-week time span, seventeen kilometres of the Millennium Trail has been refurbished, a section that stretches from west of Bloomfield to the trail end at County Road 49, and includes a spur to Lake Street near the LCBO store in Picton. The upgrade project was led by Barry Davidson with support from an ad hoc Millennium Trail Committee. Central to the success of the project was the work of dozens of volunteers who spent three weekends removing brush that had grown in along the edges of the trail, as well as trimming overhead branches to provide clearance for heavy machinery. “We had excellent support for volunteers to come out and do the brushing of the vegetation so there’s room for the trucks to go down and make the deposits of the limestone screenings on the trail,” says Davidson. “We recorded about 300 hours for the volunteers.”

Barry Davidson stands at the end of the recently resurfaced Millennium Trail at County Road 49, just east of Picton.

The project called for bulldozers to scrape off the grass that had grown on the existing trail and then shape the former rail bed to have a slight crown in the middle. A six-inch thick layer of limestone screening was then deposited onto the prepared surface. The work was performed by two companies, QBT Excavating and Drew Harrison Excavating, with Davidson acting as supervisor. The companies were chosen from a list of contractors who had submitted bids to the County at the beginning of the fiscal year for as-needed piecework. “I start at the least-expensive and call them and say ‘Are you available?’ and if they are, they send their people,” says Davidson. “If they’re not available, we go on to the next company.” Davidson himself operated the roller for final smoothing of the trail.

Davidson was pleased that the entire project went exceptionally well. The wet weather caused a little delay, as the limestone surface must be dry before it can be smoothed with a roller—the screenings adhere to the roller and leave behind holes in the surface. “The challenge for the volunteers was to keep ahead of the construction crews, particularly when cutting back the overhead branches,” says Davidson.

“When the dump trucks tilt up to deposit the stone on the trail, the top of the truck can be 15 feet high, so we had to get volunteers with a chainsaw on an extension pole to cut these high limbs. We had three weekends with 13 to 15 people, each weekend, but we still had to call on some extra volunteers when the weekend parties weren’t quite able to keep ahead of the construction crews.”

The refurbished trail now has a smooth surface, eight feet wide, with an additional three feet cleared on either side. The County has an ongoing maintenance program to keep the sides of the trail trimmed to inhibit vegetation growing back and encroaching on the surface. The six inch thick limestone covering will also deter vegetation growth. “In future years, the County is planning to purchase a machine that will rework the surface and fill in potholes as they form,” adds Davidson.

Davidson had been keeping track of the cost of resurfacing, and by his estimate it is close to $7,500 per kilometre, considerably less than the amount in the County tendering process. However, the County will actually be paying the bills for this project and an exact figure is not yet available. Other expenses will include the construction of assembly points along the trail, parking areas, and wayfinding and information signs. The three-year project has a budget of $450,000, of which two-thirds was earmarked for this year. Davidson estimates that only half of the $300,000 might be spent this year. The new council will approve any expenditures for 2019. The next phase of the project will upgrade the trail west of Danforth Road. This will be the most challenging section, because the trail crosses wetland areas at Hubbs Creek and Slab Creek. “We have to be sensitive to the creatures that inhabit the wetlands,” says Davidson. “In the spring, Hubbs Creek floods, so there are fish swimming across the Millennium Trail, and there’s toads and snakes and all sorts of marine life. It dries up after a couple of months, whereas Slab Creek further down is flooded all year round.” The Trails Committee recently decided to proceed with a boardwalk along the Hubbs Creek section, subject to approval by County staff. It is also considering the proposal of a raised trail with ecopassages along the Slab Creek portion.

The newly refurbished section of the trail has been welcomed by users, and has seen increased traffic. “Everyone we’ve talked to has been delighted,” says Davidson. Dog walkers, though, have noticed some consternation in their canine companions. It seems they are miffed that their “signposts and notice boards” have disappeared.