Engineers giving CBS coastline close look as Town moves to repair sections of walking path

CBS hires on external help to deduce what work is left to be done on trailway

The Town of Conception Bay South is still assessing damages from this past winter’s storms.

At the May 19 council meeting, Ward 2 councilor Junior Bursey made a motion to hire Progressive Engineering Consultants to undertake the work for $13,000 plus HST.

It will include a detailed engineering analysis of the coastline, its infrastructure, including bridges, and an evaluation of the trailway.

“The report is expected to be completed next month, and as a part of the evaluation, the town is focused to open the trailway system as quickly as possible when deemed safe to do so,” Bursey said.

Mayor Terry French said he has been contacted by a number of people who make regular use of the trails.

“One of the things we’ve asked the staff to do is go out and do an assessment, because it seems and looks like by just taking a small piece of heavy equipment, you could quickly clear off enough that people could walk on certain pieces of the trail,” he said.

French cautioned, however, that engineers have concluded there is still plenty of path that is not safe for such work.

While the town is eager to get the trailway opened completely again, the mayor said, it is proving to be more difficult than anticipated. But he is hopeful that work will continue to clear small sections and possibly introduce small loops around the trail as the summer season approaches.

Although perhaps not up to “Grand Concourse” standards, he admitted, the engineers are going to see what can be done in the interim.

“Unfortunately, because of washouts and bank stabilization and so on, that’s just not possible in most areas, even though it may look and seem safe,” French said. “It’s not that we don’t want to restore it, or are for some reason not restoring it. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s just that, when it’s safe to do so, we’ll get it done as quickly as we can.”

Bursey’s motion, meanwhile, passed unanimously.