On Tuesday the Town of Innisfil unveiled the newly constructed multi-use Jack Crescent Trail, which connects Joseph Street to Jack Crescent.
As part of the celebration of the last day of school, the trail, which connects to Goodfellow Public School via a boardwalk, was unveiled by Mayor Lynn Dollin and the school's principal, Sean Cappadocia. They were joined by members of Innisfil council, municipal staff, school staff, and representatives from the County of Simcoe and INJAZ Construction.
“I’m really excited to welcome everybody to the opening of Jack Crescent Trail,” said Dollin. “Thank you to the residents and the committee members from the school zone traffic safety advisory committee for ensuring we paved a path that made sense for students and for the community.
"Thank you to staff, current and former, for making this vision reality. Last but not least, thank you to the County of Simcoe for supporting the construction of the trail with funding through the Trails Connecting Communities Program," said Dollin.
“This trail is a direct result of tons of collaboration and hard work. This is not common; it’s a rare opportunity where we were able to work together (the town and school board), and hopefully it won’t be so rare going forward and we can show best practices when it comes to working with the school board, with the local school, with the community, with the health unit, and get some active transportation going to get our kids walking to school," said Dollin.
Supported by the Town of Innisfil’s Trails Master Plan, Jack Crescent Trail was built to help provide a safe active route for students and members of the Innisfil community. It consists of a three-metre-wide, multi-use asphalt trail near Goodfellow Public School and a raised boardwalk through the wetland area.
“This entire pathway and bridge exemplify the work that can be done when the town and our school board can work together,” said Cappadocia.
“Partnerships like this bring great things. At the floor of the work Vice Principal (Chris) Chater and myself do is safety, and the safe arrival and departure of our students, and this really enables students to flow freely into the neighbourhood without having to access high traffic areas," he explained. "This is a very valuable piece to our school and our school community.”
The trail will be maintained year-round by staff with the town’s operations department to ensure an accessible all-season trail. The town received $30,000 to support the trail through the County of Simcoe’s Trails Connecting Communities Program, which provides funding opportunities to member municipalities to develop active transportation and recreational trail opportunities.
“This trail promotes many of the things we discuss at nearly every council and committee meeting,” said Dollin. “It improves traffic safety, promotes active transportation, and makes our school zones safer and more efficient. Our hope is that this trail also takes some pressure off Goodfellow’s reinstated kiss and ride program. We’re committed to maintaining this trail in the winter to ensure its accessibility year-round.”
The trail has been a project the town and school board have been working together on for nearly six years, and council was ecstatic to see it finally come to fruition.
“The trail is years in the making,” said Coun. Kenneth Fowler. “It will save time for the community and help take kids out of harm’s way.”
