Erosion costs mounting on the Rail Trail

The bills continue to pile up to deal with erosion on the northern part of the Okanagan Rail Trail.

Greater Vernon Advisory Committee directors have approved spending $230,000 to design and install a geosynthetic reinforced soil retaining wall to prevent further bank erosion on sections of the trail including a 200-metre part near the Lake Country border that continues to crumble away.

The site was assessed by a geotechnical engineer who recommended the retaining wall.

“We’ve had four or five years of high water, and you have boats on there and the wakes come to the shoreline and erodes it,” GVAC chair Akbal Mund told Vernon Matters.

Mund said the Regional District of North Okanagan has already spent about $1 million on trail erosion this year.

Water Main break

Precautionary boil water notice issued for Middleton area

14h ago

Tariff Threat Preparations

Provincial cabinet committee formed to respond to tariff threats

19h ago

Wellness Spa at the Golf Resort

Preliminary approval granted for spa at The Rise

19h ago

“The original part had to be done. When you think of the numbers, they add up real quick,” Mund added.

RDNO recently completed several months of erosion mitigation work.

Mund said regional politicians have to come up with a plan to pay the future erosion costs.

“What’s it going to be like 10 years from now? We’ll be doing this work and it could be in the millions of dollars 10 years from now and how do you fund that? This is something we’ll be pondering in the future,” Mund said.

(With files from the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce)