A new pathway in Teulon represents a huge step towards creating a safer journey to school for its students and an active transportation route for all community members.
On Wednesday, Sept. 17, crowds gathered near Teulon Elementary School for the grand opening of the Safer School Pathway. The new walking path provides access to the elementary school as well as Teulon Collegiate Institute, while also creating connections between the northeast and northwest sides of the community. The pathway eliminates the need for pedestrians to cross the highway, without the aid of crosswalks, to access these areas.
Mayor Todd Campbell acknowledged the contributions of councillors Glenn Kletke and Kirt Ansell, who funded the project out of pocket while also putting in the physical labour to bring it to fruition.
At the same time, he also acknowledged the town’s staff and council, the administration of the Interlake School Division, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and engineer Randy Borsa who oversaw the project.
“I’m hoping this pathway is a start to more of what we’re going to see in this community. We are short of sidewalks. We are short of active transportation trails. We are short of trails in our green spaces in our park,” the mayor said.
“The first step was putting this path into place. The second step of what we’ve been working on is a green space in Teulon park. So, hand in hand, we’re doing some really good things as far as making sure we’ve got pathways for everybody in our communities.”
School board chair Alan Campbell touted the importance of the board’s relationship with the Town of Teulon and other local municipalities.
“Anyone involved in the planning for this project will know that the school division had many reservations about it but, like any good partnership, there needs to be flexibility and persuasion. Our friends in Teulon told us that they heard our concerns but they were going ahead with the project because it was a good idea,” he said.
“Let me be the first to say that it has turned out to be a great idea — and the town, specifically councillors Ansell and Kletke, are to be congratulated for their hard work and vision.”
Campbell said he and trustee Sally Cook are strong advocates at the board table for Teulon’s schools.
“The board recognizes that the future and success of Teulon depends, in no small part, on the future and sustainability of Teulon Elementary and Teulon Collegiate,” he said.
“This is why projects like this — focused on student and community accessibility and safety, achieved through strong partnership between the town council and the school board — are so important.”
Lakeside MLA Trevor King also joined the festivities and expressed his appreciation for the project, as well as for the two councillors who walked the talk to complete the pathway.
“I want to tip my hat to Coun. Kletke and Coun. Ansell. I know that sitting on council, you realize those budget shortfalls and you can’t do everything that you need to do in your community with the budgets that you run on,” King said. “Thank you for stepping up. Your contributions are making such a big impact in the community.”
Kletke gave credit to Ansell for bringing him on board. He also shared gratitude to everyone who helped out in big and small ways, including those who brought drinks and sandwiches to them while they worked.
“But I really think Kirt deserves the big applause for this because he spearheaded it. He drove it — this is his baby,” Kletke said. “I just kind of piggybacked in on the tail end for the ride.”
For Ansell, he said it was very gratifying to see the results of their endeavours.
“It was a bit of an uphill battle. In all honesty, it took us longer to talk about it than to do it. But it was fun and we got a lot of good comments. I’m glad to see the community is using it and I’m glad to see the kids are on it. The whole idea was to solve a problem that we really didn’t pay a lot of attention to because it was always there. Sometimes you need to step back and ask if there’s a way we could do something better,” Ansell said.
“How good of an idea is it to have a pathway that ends at a highway without a crosswalk or any other option? Yes, the kids are still cutting through the ditch and they will for a little while longer. But, at the end of the day, we gave them an option where they can go across the road safely.”
