Councillor Sudds has announced that the city is looking into acquiring the former railway corridor known as the Beachburg Subdivision, with the intention of protecting it for future transportation use as a year-round recreational trail.
This corridor is approximately 35.2 kilometres long with a width of 30 metres. It passes through the western Greenbelt south and west of the Department of National Defence facilities; along the eastern edge of Kanata past existing employment and residential areas and the approved Kanata North urban expansion lands; and through farmland, forest or country lot subdivisions in the rural area to the Ottawa River.
The corridor includes approximately seven bridges and 52 culverts. The rail corridor has not been used for many years and the railway tracks and ties have been removed. This is a wonderful way to revitalize, and reinvent underutilized property and promote greenspace use in our community.
The city presently owns several active and former rail corridors. Some of these corridors have become part of the O-Train Light Rail Transit system and others have been improved as popular multi-use trails for an interim community benefit and used and maintained under agreements with local snowmobile clubs for winter rural recreation.
Like other city-owned rail corridors, interim use of this corridor as a year-round recreational trail would have numerous benefits and it would be very popular with our community.
Property sketch of former railway corridor known as Beachburg Subdivision
The corridor extends from 64.5 metres north of the junction with the Renfrew rail corridor in the Greenbelt, through Kanata North and the rural area to Morris Island Drive, just east of the Ottawa River.
The city will examine the condition and financial needs of the structures. In that regard, an Engineering Consultant has been retained to identify, inspect, and estimate the renewal needs and costs of the structures in the corridor.
The preliminary summary and related cost estimate will be complete by approximately September 3, 2021 and presented at the Finance and Economic Development Committee this fall.