Morden Colliery Regional Trail

The Morden Colliery Regional Trail (MCRT) is a 4 km-long corridor of Provincial Crown Land located between Morden Colliery Historic Provincial Park in South Wellington and Hemer Provincial Park in Cedar.

In 1995, the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) initiated development of the MCRT corridor for recreational trail use under license from the Province of British Columbia. The MCRT runs along an old rail grade used to move coal from the mines of South Wellington to Boat Harbour during the early years of the 20th Century.

Over the past 30 years, under the management of the RDN, this segment of a historical rail corridor has become a popular regional and community route for walking, nature appreciation, horseback riding and cycling.

Because there is currently no bridge crossing the Nanaimo River within the MCRT, the trail network of the MCRT consists of two separate segments:

• South Segment: A 1 km-long section between Morden Colliery Historic Provincial Park to the Nanaimo River
• North Segment: A 2 km-long section between Cedar Road and Hemer Provincial Park

The Central segment of the MCRT, which runs approximately 1 km through agricultural land from the Nanaimo River to Cedar Road is currently undeveloped and requires two bridges to span the Nanaimo River.

Preliminary design work has begun on the Nanaimo River bridges and recommendations will be presented to the RDN Board for further direction moving forward. If approved, the overall scope of proposed works includes:

• two new bridge spans over the Nanaimo River
• fenced trail corridor through the agricultural lands
• safe crossings at Hemer and Cedar Roads
• upgraded accessible trail throughout
• bridge replacements for the Thatcher Creek crossings

The planned work will be phased as budget allows.

Want to stay updated about this project?

• Sign up for project updates by subscribing and leaving your email address and we will email updates about the project as it progresses
• Check out the Project Updates tab below for project updates