Rotten trolley crossings are safety hazard, says Whitehorse councillor

The City of Whitehorse wants the territorial government to do something about its disused trolley tracks downtown, saying the rotting infrastructure has become a safety hazard.

Councillor Laura Cabott raised the issue at a council meeting on Monday, saying there are several problem areas where the tracks cross the waterfront trail. 

"There are some places along the tracks which are heavily used by cyclists and walkers and runners, where they're in bad shape — places where the wood has rotted so there's large gaps," Cabott said.

"Or, there's areas where there's spikes or large nails that are protruding up as high as half an inch."

The narrow-gauge trolley line stretches along the Yukon River waterfront, from Rotary Park to Spook Creek. It was used by the MacBride Museum's tourist trolley until this year, when the Yukon government decided to stop funding the service and maintaining its infrastructure.

Cabott said some of the main problem areas are where the tracks cross the path near Earl's restaurant, and near Kanoe People.

City Manager Linda Rapp said the city has also heard from several residents. She said the city wrote to the territorial government to ask about the issue.

She said the deputy minister of Highways and Public Works told the city "they would definitely be sending a crew out to flag those areas of concern and that those would be dealt with."

"If we don't see something happening in the near future, we definitely would be checking in again," Rapp told councillors.

Cabott said it should be an easy fix, like dealing with potholes.

"It shouldn't take that long to get a crew together just to identify, to deal with those, you know, four or five places where there is a crossing," Cabott said.