In January, 2007, the Quad Squad was approved for funding from Alberta Stewardship Network in the amount of $5,000 for the placement of two crossings, a 40-foot and a 50-foot bridge on York Creek upstream of Coal Haul Road, approximately two kilometres south of Coleman in Crowsnest Pass, Alberta.
The project was designed to improve trail safety and the water quality in the 160-square-kilometre York Creek watershed. This is the main trail leading to the historic 1947 plane crash site, York Creek Basin and the main connector trail to all points South—Lynx Creek, Goat Creek, Lost Creek and Carbondale River.
As part of the project, the purchase of two trail traffic counters was included to monitor traffic flow through the Coleman access south of Highway 3. These were placed at both the ford and bridge access to record the number of units over each of the crossings. During a three-month period in 2008, 57 per cent of all the traffic using this main trail used the bridge. What could not be determined was the number of trucks and four-wheel drives that had to use the ford. Quite an improvement—from 100 per cent of all traffic using the ford down to 43 per cent including trucks. So pick a number from 1,000 to 10,000, 570 to 5,700 OHV s that are not driving through York Creek.
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