{"id":8381,"date":"2025-02-26T17:25:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T21:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8381"},"modified":"2025-02-26T17:25:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T21:25:53","slug":"region-of-queens-forms-committee-to-get-atv-road-trail-network-motoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/02\/26\/region-of-queens-forms-committee-to-get-atv-road-trail-network-motoring\/","title":{"rendered":"Region of Queens forms committee to rev up ATV road trail network"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ATVs ride in the Privateer Days Parade last summer on the Liverpool waterfront. (Rick Conrad)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Region of Queens took the first step this week to allowing off-highway vehicles on some municipal roads, but ATV groups say they want to see a timeline for when it will happen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors voted on Tuesday evening to form an advisory committee to look at what needs to be in place to create the first part of a connected road trail network.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That would go from West Street, near the municipal administration building and hook up with the multi-use Trestle Trail at various points to Bristol Avenue near the grocery stores and the Hank Snow Hometown Museum.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Queens County ATV Association and the Queens Rails to Trails group have been lobbying the region since July 2023, shortly after the Nova Scotia government passed the Road Trails Act. That allows off-highway vehicles on provincial and municipal roads, with certain conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Coun. Stewart Jenkins said it\u2019s time the region acted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is an important part of the tourism and recreation of Queens County and that we shouldn\u2019t delay this because it seems like it\u2019s been going on for a while,” he said at Tuesday’s council meeting. <\/span><\/p>\n

“I think we should get a move on it. The committee sounds like the right way to go with it. Start moving forward with it so that the ATV association and the users can make use of a good thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Groups lobbying for the connected network say it could generate millions in economic activity for Liverpool businesses and would allow users to travel more easily from Lunenburg to Queens to Shelburne counties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dave White, president of the Queens County ATV Association, told QCCR that it\u2019s good to have some movement from council.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said his group and others have spent more $250,000 last year alone, maintaining 70 kilometres of trails in the county.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s exciting to hear that they’ve actually made a commitment to have a committee look at it and hopefully that moves forward in a timely fashion. We would have liked to have heard a time commitment on that,” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe road trails act that came out two years ago provided a unique opportunity to make these connections. So when we look at our neighbouring municipalities and towns, so Shelburne, Digby, Barrington, Yarmouth have already done this, we don\u2019t want to be left behind.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The region\u2019s committee will include staff, a member of council and representatives from ATV groups and local businesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

It will look at costs, community engagement, any required upgrades to infrastructure and what should be in a bylaw or policy for road trails.<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/atvcommitteecouncilfeb2625.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Region of Queens took the first step this week to allowing off-highway vehicles on some municipal roads, but ATV groups say they want to see a timeline for when it will happen. Councillors voted on Tuesday evening to form an advisory committee to look at what needs to be in place to create the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[2848,1950,2927,39,1375,1348,2928,24,1574,2929,1198,2930],"class_list":["post-8381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-atv","tag-atvs","tag-dave-white","tag-liverpool","tag-off-highway-vehicles","tag-queens-county-atv-association","tag-queens-rails-to-trails","tag-region-of-queens","tag-regional-council","tag-road-trail-network","tag-road-trails-act","tag-trail-network"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8381"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8385,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8381\/revisions\/8385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}