Port Moody scraps Mount Royal Walkway upgrade, votes to remove well-used shortcut amid soaring costs

Regular users of the Mount Royal Drive walkway – a well-used, but deteriorating pedestrian shortcut to Clarke Drive – may need to find an alternate route. 

Instead of building a brand new path, city council voted on July 22 to ditch the project and remove the existing features entirely.

Coun. Kyla Knowles, who was initially supportive of the upgrades, said she can no longer stomach the costs, which have spiked to nearly double the approved budget.

“I’m really sorry, and I’m sorry to the residents who will be mostly impacted,” Knowles said. “But there are issues preventing us from doing so in a timely and [cost effective] manner.”

Council had allocated $350,000 in November 2023 to replace the walkway, which is used by many Port Moody Secondary students who live north of Seaview Drive. 

The project aimed to improve safety by adding concrete stairs, new handrails, asphalt pathways, fencing and signage. It also would shift the walkway entirely onto city property, as a portion of path cut through a private lot, and trespassing concerns were raised by the owner in 2022.

But after the design was finalized and tendered in June 2024, the price tag was “significantly higher” than expected, according to staff. This was due to escalating construction costs, access challenges and traffic management restrictions, and significantly underestimating the cost of concrete. The project was left with a $330,000 funding shortfall.

As an alternative, staff recommended building a new walkway to Port Moody’s trail standards, using wood and granular infill instead of concrete, and using aggregate finish for the walkway. 

However, they noted the cheaper and less durable option could still not be completed with the available budget, and would need an additional $238,000 drawn from transportation reserve, bringing the total cost to $564,000.

Staff said the project may be important, but it may not be as high a priority as other transportation-related capital projects regarding impact and usage levels for the community.

Coun. Callan Morrison, who also advocated for the project back in 2023, agreed he could no longer support the new walkway at that price point, adding he struggled with the initial $350,000 estimate.

“I wasn’t willing to go much more than that,” he said.

Another option was to close the walkway, remove the encroachment on private property; remove the wooden stairs; and add landscaping features to make it impossible to traverse. This could be done for approximately $50,000.

Staff noted they tried looking at other options, including negotiating a statutory right-of-way, but the offer was turned down by the property owner.

Coun. Amy Lubik said that while she understood the cost concerns, the walkway was an important route for the community.

She noted that while there may only be 29 properties on Mount Royal Drive, there are many more residents using the shortcut. 

While there is no data on the exact number of daily users, council previously heard anecdotal evidence from one resident that between 50 and 60 people took the pathway daily.

“When I was in high school, there were all sorts of those paths down the neighborhood, and that was how all the kids got to school,” Lubik said. “It was so much better than being on the side of Mariner Road or on the side of Clarke Road.”

Council was split on whether to move forward, but the project was defeated with votes deadlocked 3-3, as Mayor Meghan Lahti was not present.

Council voted 5-1 to remove the walkway, with Morrison solely opposed.

Regular users of the pathway may now be forced to hike up the steep sidewalk to Clarke Street, a route staff admit is much less direct. 

Whether residents stop actually using the shortcut once it is dismantled is questionable.

Enzo Mastroianni, a resident who wrote to council urging them to fund the walkway, said stalling the project any longer was a mistake.

He noted even after the city temporarily closed the trail for safety reasons, residents moved the barriers and continued to use the path.

“Closing down the artery temporarily and removing the stairs altogether is a gross oversight given its continued use daily by residents of the city and given the 50 years it’s been in use,” Mastroianni said.