New river valley footbridge connecting Edmonton to Sherwood Park opens to the public

Walking from Edmonton to Sherwood Park just got a lot easier, as a new footbridge over the North Saskatchewan River opened to the public Friday.

So far, it’s receiving rave reviews from cyclists and those out for a summer stroll.

“I’ve lived here all my life, and now I’m seeing parts of the city that I saw from a road or somewhere else. Now, I’m seeing it from the other side,” said Rick Melnychuk, a cyclist and trail walker from Sherwood Park.

Rani Sidhu, who walked the trail for the first time today, said, “It was really nice. It’s beautiful, nice, and clean too, and I would encourage more people to be out here.”

The bridge from Edmonton’s 167th Avenue to Strathcona County’s Township Road 540 is a big win, but the City of Edmonton says there will still be some closures over the summer so crews can install canopies.

“It doesn’t really just put this region on the map, it puts alberta on the map, it puts canada on the map. Worldwide, people do travel to destinations just like this trail,” said Kristine Archibald, the executive director of the River Valley Alliance.

The River Valley Alliance says the final piece of a complete river valley trail is a 25 km gap tying the town of Devon to southwest Edmonton, which is still waiting to be completed.

The non-profit is asking all levels of government to come together and finish the job, but currently, there’s no timeline for when that’ll happen.

“They see value in the project, that’s no question, but hopefully it becomes a priority, and we can get that funding to finish the trail and have this iconic, world-class piece of infrastructure for our region to enjoy for many generations.”

The mayor of Devon says finishing the build of this bridge is an exciting step to making that happen, saying in a statement, “As the western most point of the river valley trail, Devon is excited for what’s ahead — especially the final 25 kilometres that will connect our community directly to edmonton and, ultimately, to fort saskatchewan.”

And those on the trail are ready to see that happen.

“Oh, that’d be neat, you could go all the way to Devon in one shot from here. It would be terrific,” said Melnychuk.

Sharon David, a longtime river valley trail walker, added, “I’m excited to see that we can cross the river now and do other trails.”

The city will host an official grand opening and reveal the name of this bridge in mid-September.