By Ian Holmes

Boardwalk replacement shuts down portion of Westwood Lake Trail

Dec 12, 2016 | 10:36 AM

NANAIMO — A section of trail at popular Westwood Lake Park in Nanaimo will be closed for the next several weeks while crews replace a 75-metre boardwalk.

The city of Nanaimo’s Manager of Parks Operations Al Britton says the boardwalk adjacent to Arbot Road near the tennis courts will be replaced starting on Monday, Dec. 12 through Dec. 23.

He says the section of trail will re-open during the Christmas break, then close again, potentially through the end of Jan.

“This is probably our least amount of time that people are out walking around the park, so least disruption to the least amount of users,” said Britton.

Britton says the boardwalk is deteriorating and needs to go.

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“This was built roughly 20-years ago and we’re now running into situations where we run into a lot of rot in certain areas.”

Britton says the park users will have access to the rest of the 6 km trail while the work is being done. He notes the city has signs posted at Westwood Lake, put out a news release and used social media to spread the word of the project.

April Green, who regularly runs the trail around Westwood Lake, says shutting down a portion of the trail will affect her routine.

“It means I probably won’t use Westwood Lake, or I’ll being using the other trail systems behind the lake instead,” said Green.

Britton says while he expects the city will hear lots of complaints about the closure, Green won’t be one of them.

“I think it’s the best possible time to do it, because not that many people actually go out in the snow…the city kind of shuts down,” she said.

Britton notes replacing the boardwalk on the lake’s northeast shore will cost about $30,000.