Ponoka made the list of twelve places, twice, along The Great Trail that are set to get some upgrades in the next few years.

The Great Trail, formerly the Trans Canada Trail, is around 24,000 Km long and passes through 77 of Alberta’s communities.

Senior Communications Advisor with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism Ryan O'Byrne says that Ponoka was one of the well-deserved places on the list.  

“There’s always an ongoing list of priority pieces of trail that we have across Alberta, and the pieces in Ponoka were part of it,” explains O’Byrne.

Mckenzie Trail will get some trail development and a suspension bridge installed, while Diamond Willow Trail will receive bank stabilization and engineering work to preserve what is already there.

O’Byrne says, “the work is always ongoing and were just trying to stretch it out as evenly as possible so that were doing it in a way that affects the most Albertans.”

The project is a government initiative called Alberta TrailNet Society that represents the Great Trail. The funding available from the Alberta Government is $1.39 million, but so far the upgrades to the trail have reached almost $10 million.

Other communities throughout the project will receive new trail and enhancement to existing trail, added bridges, and signage.