Visitors are now welcome once again in Mill Creek Regional Park.
The 15.3-hectare regional park located just northeast of Kelowna International Airport has been closed since the 2017 spring flooding caused extensive damage to bridges and the parking area.
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“Thanks to the efforts of our Parks Operations team, they’ve removed tons of flood debris and made enough repairs to the trails, boardwalk and pedestrian bridge to allow visitors on foot, back into the park. This spring as a flood prevention measure in partnership with the Regional Emergency Program, Emergency Management BC and the City of Kelowna the access road into the park was elevated to increase protection for infrastructure and homes backing onto the park and to direct stream flows under Spencer Road. Until the parking area is restored, we’re asking visitors to park safely along the side of Spencer Road and not to block any driveways of our neighbours,” Bruce Smith, communications officer said in a press release.
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In order to complete the flood damage repairs in the park, a contractor has recently been hired to design, build and install a new vehicle bridge over Mill Creek.
“We expect this work to begin next month and the new vehicle bridge along the park’s main trail should be in place restoring full park access for the fall of 2018,” Smith said.
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Work continues on recovery projects for several other regional and RDCO Community Parks that were affected by the 2017 flood and record Okanagan Lake water levels. See the status of these projects at www.regionaldistrict.com/parksfloodrecovery