December 22, 2020 - The Waterfront Regeneration Trust is a small registered charity leading a partnership of over 155 communities, First Nations, public and private organizations, and government of all levels to implement, expand, promote and maintain the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail.
Since 1995, the Trail has been recognized as the first step of a broader strategy to regenerate the waterfront as part of the Lake Ontario Greenway Strategy developed by the Waterfront Regeneration Trust and its partners. The goal of the Strategy is to foster a commitment to actions that will regenerate a healthy and sustainable waterfront that is clean, green, accessible, connected, open, usable, diverse, affordable and attractive.
In 2002, we conducted a user survey and learned that walkers saw the Trail as a beloved amenity, using it frequently but locally. Cyclists, on the other hand, understood the Trail as tourism attraction and were already using the trail to travel between communities.
Since the Trail’s conception, we have worked with cyclists to figure out how to navigate between the gaps in the off-road trail. The survey results prompted us to looking into the exciting potential of the cycle tourism market and bring this opportunity to our partners.
As a result, we, with our partners, decided to focus our promotions and marketing on cycling and cycle tourism as way to unlock the Trail’s power to contribute to local tourism economies.
As of 2020, the Trail is roughly 3,000 km long, extending from the Quebec Border on the St. Lawrence River to Sault Ste. Marie near Lake Superior. The entire 3,000 km are signed and mapped. Interactive and downloadable maps and recommended itineraries are available to the public for free.
We have come to see that experiences along the trail foster a sense of stewardship, that support the goal of a protected waterfront. There is a lot of trail, making for many experiences. And now more e-bikers are also enjoying the fabulous network of trails.
Here are some of the successes of nearly 25 years of Great Lakes Waterfront Trail:
- 10 major waterfront promenades
- 3 bridges
- closing the west Whitby gap with an expansion that connects two provincially significant wetlands to the Trail.
- creation of 1200 km Lake Ontario Watershed network with 9 signed connector routes between the Greenbelt Route and the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail in partnership with the Greenbelt Foundation.
- Establishing the first signed continuous route in Northern Ontario between Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury. Involved securing participation from the Province to add wide shoulders to 50km of provincial highway needed to achieve a continuous route.
- Improvements to 16 waterfront parks
- 7 new cultural heritage facilities
- Interpretation of 15 waterfront habitats
- 3 major brownfield rehabilitation projects
- 18 significant waterfront habitat restoration projects
- 2 harbour/marina revitalization projects
- Award-winning trail-user resources
- Great Waterfront Trail Adventure-popular annual event showcasing progress on the waterfront
The Great Lakes Waterfront Trail is a foundational piece of the growing provincial cycling network, serves as a backbone for emerging active transportation strategies in smaller communities, and as common ground for community partners across Southern Ontario and the Near North.
Funds donated to the Waterfront Regeneration Trust assist us in our ongoing projects to expand, promote and improve the Trail, to maintain wayfinding and mapping excellence, and to support our community partners in their own ongoing regeneration work.
Link to the donate page on our website.
