The City of Brockville is almost ready to welcome the public into the newly renovated Brockville Railway Tunnel.
The City of Brockville Railway Tunnel Committee has invited some special guests to attend a pre-opening tour with wine and cheese in the tunnel. The tour will start at 4:00pm on July 18th with government officials, city councillors, committee members and the project’s major donors all being invited to attend. The tunnel committee says they will use the opportunity to acknowledge Phillips Lighting’s contribution and their spectacular lighting system. According to tunnel committee representatives Ford Electric of Brockville designed and built the lighting infrastructure using Phillips Lighting’s LED, coloured, programmable lighting system.
The tunnel opening is just a part of the first phase of a two phase project intended to boost recreation, tourism and economic development. The first phase includes restoration of the tunnel and landscaping property north of the tunnel that had been owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway and is now known as “the Gorge”. Once the construction and landscaping have been completed the tunnel committee plan to make the tunnel and “the Gorge” the newest part of the Brock Trail recreation pathway.
The second phase of the project would see improvements made to the areas around the tunnel. Some of the proposed changes include; redevelopment of the lands west of the tunnel that had previously belonged to Grand Truck Railway, a Roundhouse-style visitor centre and tour bus parking south of the CN corridor and a number of improvements for Armagh Sifton Price Park.
The tunnel is scheduled to be opened to the general public on August 12th and phase two of the project is yet to be formally approved.