Whitehorse Urban Cycling Coalition and Klondike Snowmobile Association develop interim winter maintenance proposal for Hamilton Boulevard Trail
The Whitehorse Urban Cycling Coalition (WUCC), with support from the Cycling Association of Yukon, is pleased to announce the development of an interim winter maintenance proposal with the Klondike Snowmobile Association (KSA) for the Hamilton Boulevard Motorized Multi Use Trail.
25% of Whitehorse residents live in the McIntyre, Granger, Copper Ridge, Ingram and Logan subdivisions. The Hamilton Boulevard motorized multi-use trail provides an active transportation route for walkers, cyclists and mobility-assisted people in summer months. However, in winter month, residents of these neighborhood and students attending schools in the area do not have a safe active transportation route to the rest of the city. Furthermore, there are no safe winter routes to access the Canada Games Center by foot, bike or mobility aid.
The Hamilton Boulevard Trail is also an important trail for motorized recreationalists to access to the City’s motorized trail network year-round. The Trail has been maintained in winter for over a decade by Klondike Snowmobile Association as part their trail stewardship program.
Ultimately, there needs to be separated spaces for both motorized recreationalists and active commuters, but this is not achievable in the immediate future. Over the past few winters, the City of Whitehorse has demonstrated they are capable of maintaining a good snow packed surface that is high quality and usable by everyone, including walkers, conventional bicycles, mobility devices and snowmachines. In 2023 the City increased both its operating and capital budget for winter maintenance of the transportation network.
Given last winter’s demonstrated success of the snow packed surface on the Airport Trail, Range Road Trail and Lower Escarpment Trail last winter, WUCC and KSA are pleased to announce they have developed an interim winter maintenance proposal that will make the Hamilton Boulevard Trail more usable by broader spectrum of people, including winter cyclists and snow machines. Although not an ideal solution for either set of users, but we believe this can be a workable interim solution that will allow users to accommodate each other until such time as the separated infrastructure is developed by the City.
This joint-solution has been delivered to the City and we are now waiting for the City to start implementing it. The City has demonstrated they have the capability to do this maintenance; WUCC and KSA to pleased to have found a solution to expanding equity in year-round active mobility for a quarter of Whitehorse’s citizens and year-route active transportation access to the Canada Games Centre.
