Pedestrian Walkway at the Bayfield River Flats Natural Area Just About Ready to go to Tender

by Bob Montgomery

The coordinator for the fundraising campaign for the new pedestrian walkway at the Bayfield River Flats Natural Area says they're just about ready to go to tender on the project.

Roger Lewington says their goal was to raise $52,000 and they are well over $50,000 now so they're ready to go to tender and hopefully start work on the project this spring. Lewington says the project involves completing a walkway that was part of the highway 21 bridge replacement. They had negotiated with MTO to have an under-bridge walkway so that people could walk from the village to the River Flats without having to cross the highway. “It's very much a walking village here, we're five minutes off Main Street to the Flats so for residents or visitors it just means a nice access walking and it's a natural area that has been of interest to the village residents for almost sixty years.”

Lewington says donations from village residents allowed the flats to be donated to the Huron Tract Land Trust Conservancy in 2017 and village residents have continued to be generous in raising money for the walkway. Lewington says if they can get started on the project this spring it should be completed in about a month.