Rundown Millennium Trails in Prince Edward County upgraded

“It will be a benefit to all communities along the trail,” says Turpin. Photo by princeedwardcountywine.ca

By Tamara Pilon 

Volunteers and council members gathered for a ribbon cutting to mark the beginning of the Millennium Trails upgrade project on Tuesday morning. 

The trail is in bad shape, Councillor Barry Turpin said, adding trees have overgrown onto the path over time.

“It’s very rough along the edges and it is not suitable for all traffic,” he said, “In the other parts of the trail, it was to rough for bicycles and for a comfortable walk.”

The Prince Edward County council finally made the decision to put money into the project to start the upgrades after a push from volunteers who began to raise money for the trails.

“Well, we put in $485,000 – I believe it was – and they [the volunteers] already raised $120,000 for their part,” Turpin said, “There’s a lot of volunteer work put into it so there’s going to be at least $600,000 invested in this year and next year.”

The trails will include resurfacing the existing trails with crushed limestone that will be 11-feet wide, resting areas, kilometre markers, direction signs and much more.

“What they’re [the volunteers] trying to do is to get the trail upgraded so it has a very good surface right from start to finish and so that it makes it a lot better for people,” said Turpin.

This photo is taken a few kilometres outside Wellington. Photo by valdodge.com

He explains that the county had been discussing the plans for years, but the volunteers are what had them take action.

“When you have everything together and the money and a whole bunch of people that want to do it, you got volunteers, it’s the ideal time to proceed with something,” he said, “If it’s just waiting until council has the where-with-all to do it, it takes a long time.”

A map that shows the whole 46-kilometre Millennium Trail. Photo by visitpec.ca

The Millennium Trail was once a rail line that was bought by Prince Edward County from the Canadian National Railway in 1977. The railway was turned into a multi-purpose trail for recreational use. Cyclists, hikers, cross-country skiers, etc. use the trail on a daily bases all year round. The long path stretches between Carrying Place at County Road 64 to Picton at County Road 49 and passes Consecon, Wellington and Bloomfield.

Turpin said there is a push for the trails to be finished by the year 2019, though they are already making good progress.

“They just finished the five or six kilometres between Wellington and Bloomfield,” Turpin said.

They are now working on the area between Bloomfield and Picton, Turpin said. The stretch of land in Wellington has already been completed by Rotary Club of Wellington.

By the end of the project, the trails will be much safer for public use, Turpin said.