Image Credit: Shuswap Trail Alliance

A $12.5-million injection of cash from the federal government will now allow for the majority of the Sicamous to Armstrong rail trail to be completed.

Splatsin First Nation announced that it had been successful in getting the grant, which will enable more than 80 per cent of the Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail to be completed.

"I am absolutely delighted," Shuswap Trail Alliance executive director Phil McIntyre-Paul told iNFOnews.ca, Aug. 9.

The $12.5 million of federal funding will allow the rail trail to be completed from kilometre zero near the Bruhn Bridge in Sicamous to kilometre 43 near Stepney Road roughly six kilometres south of Enderby.

The Shuswap-North Okanagan Rail Trail will start in Sicamous and follow the disused rail line travelling south along the west shore of Mara Lake and the Shuswap River to Enderby. From there it would head south crossing Highway 97A, near Stepney Road south of the Log Barn, and continue into Armstrong a journey of roughly 50 kilometres.

The proposed rail trail has been spearheaded by the Shuswap Trail Alliance and is an initiative between the Splatsin Nation, the Regional District of North Okanagan and the Columbia Shuswap Regional District – the three owners of the disused rail line.

Columbia Shuswap Regional District team leader of community services Ryan Nitchie said it was difficult to estimate when the 42-kilometre section of the trail would be completed but ideally construction could start next year, once environmental, engineering and archaeological permits are obtained, and the design had been completed.

However, the money for the remaining 7.5 kilometres has yet to be secured.

McIntyre-Paul with the trail alliance said a pedestrian overpass crossing Highway 97A had a rough estimated cost of $2.5 million and the remaining trail would need roughly another $1.2-million.

The section from Armstrong to Vernon will need to be connected once the Shuswap-North Okanagan Rail Trail trail is complete.

McIntyre-Paul said conversations were underway, but the geography of the area means there is no obvious route to connect the two cities.

Unlike in some places in the U.S., McIntyre-Paul said he didn't believe it would be possible to combine the pedestrian and cycling rail trail with the active railway that runs from Armstrong to Vernon.

The project is part of a larger initiative to connect Sicamous to Osoyoos as a continuous non-motorized trail for walking and cycling.

While the prospect of linking Armstrong to Vernon seems daunting, the Shuswap Trail Alliance executive director is optimistic based on how far the project has come.

He started working on the idea for the Shuswap North Okanagan Rail Trail in 2009 when CP Rail decommissioned the line.

"If you asked me 10 years ago I would have said I'm looking at a 20 per cent chance we could pull this off," McIntyre-Paul said.

He points to the Okanagan Rail Trail which now successfully connects Vernon to Kelowna.

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