The City of Chilliwack has closed off a large section of the Vedder Rotary Trail to cyclists and equestrian use.
The announcement was made Friday and the City says the changes are being made to promote physical distancing.
“The City has received many requests to completely close the Vedder Rotary Trail during the COVID-19 pandemic,” a post on the City of Chilliwack Facebook page reads. “In order to ensure residents can continue to use the trails safely, we have temporarily reclassified some sections in an attempt to reduce physical distancing conflicts between different trail users.”
| "The City of Chilliwack Vedder has reclassified sections of the Vedder River Rotary Trail to encourage physical distancing. (Jenna Hauck/ Progress file)" |
Striking out from the Vedder Park entrance, moving past Peach Park on the north side of the river, all user groups are good until they reach the Lickman Road parking area. Pedestrians can carry on as usual, but cyclists and equestrians are detoured to the North Dyke trail and don’t reconnect with the Vedder trail until they near No. 3 Road.
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On the other other side of the river, all groups can share the trail until they reach the Vedder River campground, at which point cyclists and equestrians are expected to hop on the South Dyke Trail and follow it until it re-connects much further down.
As of Sunday morning, there were 192 comments on the City of Chilliwack Facebook post, the majority unhappy with the change.
“This is ridiculous,” wrote Kenzie Jade. “If they are going to close the trails, they should do so for everyone or no one. It’s not just the bikers and the equestrians that have a problem with following proper social distancing. If anything, it’s easier for them. I’ve seen families walking, spread out across the entire trail leaving no room to conceivably go six feet around them. I think this is a poor decision and I doubt many will follow it.”
“So basically horses can only be on the dyke?” added Tara Lynn. “Do you realize we are way more socially distanced than walkers even if we happened to be in a group? And now we don’t get any water access either?”
“I would totally understand this being closed to pedestrians but not the other way around,” echoed Elaine Christopher. “Ridiculous mandate.”
The City recommends anyone with questions or concerns reach out to the Operations Department by emailing operations@chilliwack.com
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