Barricades and a road closure sign are at the entrance to River Valley Park at both the lower and upper parking lots. The Town of Redcliff has temporarily closed the trail system due to icy conditions.
- NEWS PHOTO SAMANTHA JOHNSON
reporter@medicinehatnews.com
If you’ve been out to River Valley Park lately, you’ll have noticed the paved pathway from both the upper and lower parking lots are closed, with a barricade and sign in front of them. The Town of Redcliff has temporarily closed the river trail system due to icy conditions.
“The extreme cold and snow, followed by drifting snow, and an exceptionally warm day plus freezing rain, led to the creation of more ice than we would normally expect to see,” stated chief administrative officer for the Town of Redcliff Phyllis Forsyth by email.
The result is that snow and ice clearing equipment has been unable to access the river trail system.
The town felt it was in the best interest of public safety to discourage using the trails until they could be cleared.
Crews are still busy working on the icy conditions around town but once those have been addressed, they will turn their attention to River Valley Park.
“The weather is supposed to warm up in the not too distant future so we would anticipate that it will not be long until the trails can be cleared completely,” said Forsyth.
Despite the road closure signage and barricades, some are still walking on the paths.
“Our main focus was to make sure the public was aware of the conditions of the trails,” said Forsyth.
“Based on the fact that the trail system is quite open it would not be realistic to or possible to completely prevent anyone that really wanted to access the path from doing so.
“We hope that anyone choosing to go around the barricades or ignore the social media post would use caution when accessing the trails.”
