Cyclists in Chatham-Kent are waiting patiently for the Round the River Trail in Chatham-Kent to be completed.
When it's finished, the 21.5 km trail will go west along Riverview Line, across the Prairie Siding Bridge, then head east back to Chatham on Grande River Line.
"They started construction from Bloomfield and they're heading out to Prairie Siding Bridge, and then heading back towards Chatham," said Chatham-Kent's Active Transportation and Special Events Coordinator Genevieve Champagne. "They're going to finish this section first, get it all nicely cleaned up, and line painting before they proceed on to Grande River Line."
Champagne said construction appears to be ahead of schedule.
"The anticipated completion date is October 31st, but with how things are proceeding, I'm hoping for an earlier completion date. But we never know with weather, and everything like that."
The trail will greatly improve safety for cyclists when it's completed because there will be a 1.2-metre paved shoulder on both sides of the road on Riverview Line and Grande River Line.
Chatham-Kent is also tracking usage at a number of trails across the municipality.
"This summer we're already seeing that it's about 300 to 400 people a day are using these trails just in Chatham alone," said Champagne. "We have some counters throughout the municipality now as well. In Erieau over the weekend, we saw 2,000 people just use it on Sunday, the Boulevard trail down in Erieau."
For a full list of trails in Chatham-Kent, you can pick up a map at any library branch, or you can visit https://chathamkenttrails.ca/.