Thanks to $160,000 in Community Recreation Grants, Maple Ridge will get six new or rebuilt trail bridges to take them across local creeks and streams in the forests in and around the district.
Maple Ridge-Mission MLA Marc Dalton made the announcement in a Thursday news release.
Two trails in the Silver Valley area, Mill Creek Trail and Maggie and Jiggs Trail, will get new bridges.
As well, the Rainbow Ridge trail at 272nd Street near 108th Avenue in east Maple Ridge will also get a new bridge.
The bridge on the Paulene Clark Trail near 256th Street and 102nd Avenue will be rebuilt.
Also scheduled for rebuilding is the bridge on North Martyn Trail, at 124th Avenue and 264th Street, and the Wellman Bridge, also on the Rainbow Ridge trail.
“Some of the bridges I think were so mossy, you almost didn’t realize you were on a bridge,” said Kelly Swift, parks and recreation services general manager.
Swift said use of trails is growing as people seek out nature. In the last decade, Maple Ridge has seen a 20-per-cent increase in trail use. Eighty per cent of the population now say they use the trails.
“We just have a wonderful asset that many people don’t have with that trail network.”