Photo: Okanagan Rail Trail Initiative

People walk a test portion of the rail trail in Lake Country.

Construction is set to begin shortly on about half of the 48.5-kilometre Okanagan Rail Trail.

As weather permits, crews will build approximately 26 km of the trail with compacted crushed aggregate between now and the end of November.

This includes 12 km within the North Okanagan Regional District, five in Lake Country and nine in Kelowna. The balance will be completed in the spring.

To keep the public up to date on the work, three information sessions are planned for early October.

These will be held Oct. 3 at Coldstream Municipal Hall, Oct. 4 at the George Elliot community complex and Oct. 5 at Parkinson Rec Centre in Kelowna. All three are scheduled to run from 4 to 6:30 p.m.

“Crews have already begun working along the trail to get it ready for construction,” said project manager Andrew Gibbs. “Initial construction work is focused on environmental and archeological protection, mitigating potential geotechnical hazards and drainage improvements. Next steps, starting this fall, will be trail construction and safe road crossings.”

The remaining sections will be constructed as funding allows. About $2.8 million still needs to be raised to complete the trail. If funding is available, the remainder could be complete by late next year or early 2019.

The only exception is the 2.4-km section near Duck Lake that runs through Okanagan Indian Band land. Construction on that portion is being held up pending transfer of ownership to the band.

Another portion, which runs through former Kelowna councillor Colin Day's property, is now in the hands of Lake Country. Day sued the municipality when it tried to expropriate the portion of the trail that runs through his property.

Matt Vader, who is handling the rail trail project for Lake Country, says an agreement between the two parties has been reached.

He says negotiations between Lake Country and a second homeowner are going well.

Local governments and the province paid $22 million to purchase the discontinued CN line which runs from Kelowna to Coldstream.