Province offers up nearly $30 million for bike trail maintenance

By Gordon Lambie

Provincial Transport Minister François Bonnardel was in Magog on Wednesday to confirm an additional $24.4 million for the government’s Véloce III bike path program. These funds, assigned to two different components of the program, are added to the $5.5 million already committed in July of 2019, bringing the total value of the financial aid to $29.9 million.
“I think this is money well spent,” said Bonnardel, explaining that the program is open to the municipalities and organizations that maintain the Route Verte trail network across the province. As programs will be supported up to 50 per cent of their admissible costs, the transport minister argued that the program stands to generate investment of as much as $60 million in the “active transport” network over the coming years.
“There is a well-documented link between access to bike trails and the number of cyclists,” said Suzanne Lareau, President and Executive Director of Velo Quebec, the group that advocated for the creation of the Route Verte and helps to oversee its operations.
Lareau shared that 2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the creation of the Route Verte, meaning that some parts of the network are in dire need of improvement or even complete reconstruction.
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