Ottawa invests to protect P.E.I. National Park shoreline

The government of Canada is putting up $4.4 million to protect shorelines in P.E.I. National Park.

The funding announced this week will support a project to reduce erosion along the Gulf Shore Parkway, between Brackley Beach and Dalvayand near MacKenzie'sBrook.

Bill Courtney, asset manager with Parks Canada at P.E.I. National Park, said the project will include installing armourstoneat Covehead Pond and MacKenzie'sBrook on the Gulf Shore Parkway to protect the dunes and roadways from storm damage.

The project will also include road work toCoveheadWharf Road andDalvayCrescent to make areas of the park easier for visitors to get to.

Courtney said the park lost a section of the dunes in 2010 after a storm blew them away, leaving the roadway and shorelinevulnerable to storm exposure ever since.

"We're going to be doing armouring of the north embankment of the road which is at the south side of CoveheadPond," Courtney said. "That will protect the roadway infrastructure."

Improving visitor access

The funding will also allow the park to repave sections of the Gulf Shore Parkway frequently used by visitors, businesses and residents in the area.

"This is going to be an upgrade to the road to bring it back to a good condition so that staff, visitors, people from the area would have a nice, smooth driving surface," Courtney said.

He said a section of the Gulf Shore Parkway near MacKenzie'sBrook will also be completely replaced and include the installation of new drainage culverts.

He added that all the work will aimto protect the sensitive ecology of the park and preserve the natural landscape as much as possible.

"We're always trying to strike a balance between letting natural processes happen and offering an experience to our visitors and protecting infrastructure," Courtney said. "We also have to think about bringing people to the park and letting them enjoy the park and experience the park and one of the ways is in a vehicle so they need these roads."

Courtney said the workat CoveheadPondis expected to begin in October 2018 and the replacement of the roadway at MacKenzie's Brook is set to get started in fall 2019.

He addedthere should be minor disruptions to visitors during the work done this fall, but next yearthe park plans to close the road at MacKenzie'sBrook for the fall season.

The funding is part of Parks Canada's $3 billion investment to support infrastructure at national historic sites over the next five years.

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