Kelowna will receive $777,435 in BikeBC funding this year for the Okanagan Rail Trail (Dilworth Drive to Airport Way).

The funding was announced by Norm Letnick, MLA for Kelowna-Lake Country; Steve Thomson, MLA for Kelowna-Mission; and Premier Christy Clark, MLA for Westside-Kelowna, on behalf of Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Todd Stone.

“The Okanagan Rail Trail is a great project, which we are happy to assist,” Letnick said. “With our initial $7.2-million investment for acquisition and the Rural Dividend Fund grant of $500,000 announced in Coldstream last week, this investment of $777,435 through BikeBC brings our government’s recent contribution on behalf of taxpayers to the important project to more than $8.45 million.”

“The Okanagan Rail Trail, from the northern tip of Kalamalka Lake to downtown Kelowna, is a great revitalization of a beautiful part of this region,” Thomson said. “It will bring more tourism, growing the local economy, as well as provide an easy connection to 22 parks.”

“BikeBC is about building connected, healthy communities,” Premier Christy Clark said. “If you give people more ways to get around to work, play, and exercise, they’ll take advantage of those opportunities – especially in a beautiful place like the Okanagan Rail Trail.”

“The City of Kelowna appreciates receiving grant funding that can be used to construct this key section of the Okanagan Rail Trail, connecting the airport and the university to downtown Kelowna,” said Mayor Colin Basran. “With the city already investing $10.2 million in acquisition of the Kelowna and Lake Country portions of the corridor, this grant funding will let us develop more of the trail sooner, to benefit the region.”

The project is part of $9.25 million in funding this year for cycling infrastructure projects throughout the province, including bike lanes, multi-use trails and improvements to roads and highways to increase safety for cyclists. Through B.C. on the Move, the government’s 10-year transportation plan, the ministry has now committed $20 million over three years to the BikeBC program.

BikeBC is the Province’s cost-sharing program that helps communities build cycling projects that attract and support commuter and tourism cyclists.  Since 2001, the Government of B.C. has invested more than $230 million in cycling grants and infrastructure.

Cycling contributes to increased physical activity and helps reduce greenhouse gases.

Over the next three years, the ministry and its partners are investing over $4.6 billion in priority transportation investments as part of B.C on the Move.

Learn More:

For more information about Bike BC, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/cyclingfunding