It’s taken years of dreaming, planning, and no small amount of inter-municipal cooperation, but the dedicated biking/walking path connecting Morden and Winkler through the RM of Stanley is finally breaking ground this spring.
On Friday, the Stanley Community Pathway committee officially unveiled its plans for the project, which will feature a 10 kilometre paved path running alongside the Hwy. 14/3 corridor, isolated from the busy roadway by the south ditch.
“The plan is to go from here to tender and to turn soil as soon as we can in spring and finish this thing by the end of the year, functionally,” said James Friesen of the Stanley Trail Association and project committee chair.
The idea of a path for non-vehicular traffic connecting the two cities has been in discussion for decades, undergoing several different variations but always failing to gain much traction.
Work on this current iteration began in earnest four years ago with talks between the trail association and representatives from the three municipalities.
“We’ve met pretty well every month for four years,” Friesen shared, explaining there was a lot of work to be done navigating negotiations with Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure as to what would be allowed alongside the provincial highway. JDB Project Engineering took the lead on that part of the project, he noted.
“That four-year process saw us create the plan to connect from the [Morden] research station along the south side of the highway and then into the first development in Winkler [Pine Ridge], with a little bit of a dip down at the Boundary Trails Health Centre.”
Long-term, the plan is to develop a rest stop area at BTHC to break up the trek between communities, but the focus right now is simply getting the path in place.
The committee has secured $2.9 million of the $4.2 million needed for the project. Money raised thus far includes a $75,000 grant from the provincial government, $2.1 million from the federal government, and a combined $750,000 commitment from Morden, Stanley, and Winkler.
“This is bigger than all of us are individually,” said Morden Mayor Nancy Penner. “The community pathway is more than just a pathway—it’s bridging communities, it’s bringing us all together.”
“This is something that we could never have done on our own,” agreed Winkler Mayor Henry Siemens, stressing the importance of these and other regional projects that bring the strengths and resources of all three communities to the table. “We have different conversations in every aspect of what we can do together better than we could do alone, and this is a really good example of that.”
Stanley Reeve Ike Friesen hailed the announcement as an exciting milestone that’s been a very long time coming.
“This project has been envisioned, discussed, and planned for many years,” he said. “The RM of Stanley is very excited to partner with both cities and to make this active transport pathway a reality for all our communities.”
The project serves, he added, as “a connection between our cities and our people and a healthier, more active lifestyle.”
Friesen further noted that Stanley, Winkler, and Morden are all committed jointly to the ongoing maintenance of the path, ensuring it “remains a vital part of our community for years to come.”
The committee is now turning to the communities to get the pathway across the finish line financially.
They already have significant funding pledges from businesses like Kroeker Farms and Triple E Developments, and hope to see more corporate leaders get behind this project in the weeks and months ahead.
“We’ve got three-quarters of it ready to go,” Friesen said of the funding, noting they need about a million dollars more.
Donations can be made online at stanleytrailmanitoba.ca or you can connect with the fundraising committee via email to pathway@stanleytrailmanitoba.ca or phone at 204-325-4101.
