In February, Centennial residents were delighted to see that the portion of the Waterfront Trail east of the Highland Creek bridge, which had been closed for remediation work since last spring, was once again open to the public.
Centennial News asked for an update on it from Natasha Gibson, Senior Consultation Coordinator with the Public Consultation Unit at TRCA.
“The work that closed the trail last year for the Port Union Beach Curb Major Maintenance Project is now complete, with the potential for some restoration activities later in the spring,” she wrote. “Any restoration activities would not result in additional trail closures.”
Anyone who has been down to the trail lately probably noticed that there’s a huge amount of rock in that area. Natasha noted that “approximately 20 metric tonnes of material was used for reinforced shoreline protection and aquatic habitat improvements.”
More work is now being done for shoreline repair and long-term erosion mitigation along the portion of the Waterfront Trail to the west of this area.
“The interim work west of Highland Creek started in January,” Natasha wrote, “and the trail is now closed between Beechgrove Drive and the Highland Creek bridge. We anticipate it will be completed sometime in April 2023 to allow the trail to reopen for the summer, before returning in late 2023 to complete the long-term protection work.”
This project will address immediate safety hazards due to erosion and ensure public safety along the Waterfront Trail in two phases:
- Phase 1, which is happening now, will focus on addressing immediate safety concerns by providing protection to the most critically eroded.
- Phase 2 will focus on implementing long-term protection for the remainder of the impacted trail by integrating into the existing shoreline protection to the east and west. This work will be done in the fall and winter of 2024.