A smoother surface and trail lighting are among the upgrades to a well-used trail at Bowen Park, which came in concert with required underground sewer replacement. (submitted photo/City of Nanaimo)

By Alex Rawnsley

PARK SPACE

Trail upgrades to main Bowen Park corridor now open

Jan 8, 2022 | 6:02 AM

NANAIMO — Upgrades to a crown jewel of the Harbour City’s park space are now complete.

Underground sewer replacement combined with surface level improvements to the main trail through Bowen Park were completed in mid-December, capping a project which began in the spring.

Chris Lang, a project engineer with the City of Nanaimo, said the required sewer upgrades presented a great opportunity to improve the trail conditions by smoothing the grade, making it more accessible and adding lighting throughout.

“Instead of just a recreational trail during daylight hours, it could also serve as a transportation link during the off hours, after dusk if someone was wanting to go out for a walk or commuting from one part of the city to another.”

The project dealt with around 1,000 metres of pavement with a majority of the sewer upgrades occurring directly underneath.

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With a smoother, newer surface, the Bowen Rd. trail now provides a better spine for active transportation in the city, including natural connections to a lot of existing and planned routes.

“We’ve constructed it so that you can now connect to the trailway on Buttertubs Dr. opposite the sports field, there’s going to be a facilitated connection to the hospital area via Lenhart Ave. with some additional trailway and a future bridge upgrade.”

A better trail surface was a bonus side effect of required sewer maintenance underneath Bowen Park in central Nanaimo. (submitted photo/City of Nanaimo)

Lang said crews were able to smooth out connections to Wakesiah Ave., while future additions to the network could include better access to the downtown via the park entrance on Comox Rd.

A huge focus of the project was environmental protection, according to Lang.

He said the project provided “opportunity and challenges” to conduct ecological upgrades along the route, with heavy equipment needing to avoid several mature trees.

While some were removed to accommodate the work, crews planted 190 new ones to round out the work.

Lang told NanaimoNewsNOW they also installed a mechanically stabilized earth wall to protect the trail and sewer work against future seismic activity.

“It gave us the opportunity to seed and vegetate the front of that with some native grasses and shrubs, so it’ll be really exciting in the next two years to see how that feature vegetates and not only improves the ecology of the area.”

Sewer upgrades were to the Millstone Trunk Sewer, which handles 55 to 60 per cent of Nanaimo’s wastewater.

Upgrades were required to handle future growth in the city.

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alex@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley