Rainbow Routes strives to connect Sudbury and North Bay

Rainbow Routes Association is developing a concept plan to connect the cities of Sudbury and North Bay through the Trans Canada Trail system.

The Trans Canada Trail stretches across the entire country from east to west to north. When completed, it will be 22,000 kilometres in length. Locally, the trail winds its way from Nairn Centre in the west, through the heart of the city towards Coniston.

The plan is to continue developing the trail west until it reaches North Bay, Rainbow Routes Association executive director Debbie McIntosh said.

Rainbow Routes has been developing the Trans Canada Trail since its inception in 1998. The Trans Canada Trail Foundation recently approached Rainbow Routes to figure out the linkage between Sudbury and North Bay, McIntosh said.

Currently, the trail ends in Wahnapitae. In previous years, a lot of work and research went into connecting the two cities via an abandoned CN rail line that went north from Capreol and over and down the North Bay, McIntosh said, but the idea never actually went anywhere.

“No one wanted to take responsibility for it,” she said.

Ultimately, someone will have to take ownership of what's built through this concept plan, so the trail's development will also depend on support from the communities between Sudbury and North Bay, she said. The trails would become part of the different municipalities, which would help further promote their respective tourism destinations.

The concept plan is not to build the trail, it's an idea of how to get there, she added.

“We have been exploring the vast land between here and North Bay, and we've been connecting with the smaller communities, and not just along the Highway 17 corridor, but below that corridor as well.”

McIntosh recently visited Mashkinonje Provincial Park to see if the trail could be developed through that area.

The trail has to be linear in the sense that it can't double back on itself, but it doesn't have to be a straight line, she said. Winding its way through northern Ontario will allow those who use the trail to discover the “magic” off the Highway 17 corridor.

“There is some beautiful topography and lots to discover,” McIntosh said. “Lots of people are going on cycling trips now, and it's not uncommon to see groups of people get together to bike thousands of kilometres.”
The Trans Canada Trail is provide ample opportunity for those kinds of trips, as well as for anyone interested in hiking, she said.

The City of Greater Sudbury will assume ownership of the portion of the Trans Canada Trail that will snake its way through the Nickel City. It's a project that is still in the works, and about 70 per cent of it is complete. It's a network of trails that has incorporated a number of parks.

“We are very close to being done with trails through the city, but we haven't gone past Moonlight Beach,” McIntosh said. “It's a natural evolution, and we want to see how we can connect to North Bay.”

McIntosh said she has taken a lot of joy from being able to meet with representatives from other communities and watch them “get excited and grasp onto the idea of this.”

“A lot of communities want trails,” she said. “Many of these smaller communities are home to retirees, and they don't want Olympic-size pools – they want walking trails.”

Rainbow Routes has been looking at a number of options, and it will come up with the best one by the end of January.

“There's a very tight turnaround for this,” McIntosh said. “We started the project in October, and we need to have a final document in place by the end of January.”

Posted by Arron Pickard