From the start of their plans to expand into Riding Mountain National Park, Northgate Trails has had the goal of making sure their trails can be enjoyed by everyone. Now that construction is underway and going well, they're showing how committed they are to that promise.
Northgate and Riding Mountain National Park are using adaptive trail standards in the design and construction process, meaning they'll be wider than regular trails, have more manageable inclines and turns, and well-kept surfaces, to help eliminate any barriers people might have to using the trail network.
To better see their vision, Riding Mountain National Park hosted Lisa Franks, a 6-time Paralympic Gold Medalist. Her experiences helped Northgate and the Park find better ways to keep the expanded trail network inclusive to all users.
These adaptive trail standards don't just benefit people with disabilities affecting how they use the trails, they improve the experience for a wide variety of groups, like seniors, families with strollers, and new trail users.
Under the Accessible Canada Act, Parks Canada is working towards having all National Parks becoming barrier-free by 2040.
