I’ve sung the praises of the Etobicoke Creek Trail many times in this space. I use it for running, burbathlon, mountain biking and access to Centennial Park. It even figures largely into my route when I bike to work. When it was announced last spring that they would be doing some major construction to pave it, I should have been happy. I steered clear for the period of the construction, and like this blog, I wasn’t being that active anyway.
When I was reminded that the construction was scheduled to end in the spring of 2018, I decided to take an exploratory run. Where the trail begins from Fleetwood Park it has become a paved trail, which I have mixed feelings about. I guess it’ll be safer for bikes, and cleaner, but the gravel was appealing to give an off-road, in-forest experience very close to home.
I guess the good news is that this would give me a paved path to Centennial Park, and when I want to bike to work, I could connect to Eglinton Avenue, where they have expanded and improved a separate bike path. That means I could take a road bike which is lighter and faster than the commuter bike I’ve been using to avoid flat tires caused by gravel on this path and in my traverse of Centennial Park.
A little further up (i.e. going North) the trail there used to be a part that was not traversable by bike; you’d have to dismount and walk your bike past roots and stumps, etc. I always liked this part because it offered a great challenge to navigate and was good training for the coordination needed for off-road running. It looks like this part has been made more accessible by creating a smooth path by the creek shoreline.
After that, it used to be a gravel path all the way to Eglinton Avenue. It actually still is, but the construction seems to be intended to widen the trail, and its made a real ‘moonscape’ of the area.
The trail’s access to/from Eglinton is still closed due to construction, so I guess there may still be work to be done to improve the look of this stretch of the trail (photos were taken March 24th). Still, I feel a sense of loss, because I know running or riding this trail won’t be like the way it used to be. I have a lot of good memories from the trail the way it was – many of which have been captured in this space. I can only be hopeful that the end result will continue to make this an enjoyable space; the best case scenario is that the changes make it more accessible to more people, and help people be active and even aid in ecologically friendly transportation.
Has ‘progress’ destroyed/altered one of your favourite green spaces?