Approximately 205 km and growing, pathways in Lethbridge are no easy task to maintain and build.

The City of Lethbridge plans to build in areas that are in high demand.

With a master plan created in 2007, the city built a future of where they hope Lethbridge’s pathways will be in the future.

Since the  plan was unveiled, many pathways have been rated due to various factors including route accessibility, user experience, construction ability, environment and safety to determine top priorities.  

David Ellis, parks manager for City of Lethbridge, says these priorities can always change based on need, not the type of path.

“We don’t really cater to one group or another, these aren’t bike paths, these are pathways,” says Ellis.

Currently the primary focus for pathways in Lethbridge is links and a connection between paths says Ellis.

In the future, the city also hopes to make stronger connections between the north and south sides of the city to improve ease of movement across paths to either side. As well the city recently connected pathways on Lethbridge College land, a first of its kind in collaboration for pathways.

With a budget of approximately $1 million per year, Ellis says they look to construct projects in packages, benefiting and improving as much as possible at one time.
The majority of these funds comes from within the city and are tax based.

So who decides what paths take precedence? Ellis says that mainly comes from residents letting the city know what they want.

The city also hopes to make this even easier in the future with the help of mobile apps. With an app, the city could monitor what pathways are being used, how often and what may be under utilized.
While there are no solid plans for developing this technology, Ellis believes the opportunity is there, but primarily he looks forward to people simply enjoying the paths.

“Probably the best thing about pathways is, and the reason that they will stay in high demand, is that they are free, you get fresh air, they’re open and they’re accessible, whenever your schedule lets you use them.”