A motion to create two designated bicycle lanes along High Falls Road was approved by Muskoka’s engineering and public works committee last Wednesday, adding an additional $450,000 to the $5.6-million cost of the road’s reconstruction.

The new lanes, which will accompany widened road shoulders, are hoped to promote more active transportation, or healthier, greener modes of transport along the scenic route.

In recent months, the district has pledged to explore active transportation possibilities during all future road reconstruction. If it proceeds, High Falls Road would be the first road in Muskoka to receive the added upgrades.

Whether it is an appropriate place to kick off Muskoka’s first active transportation project, however, is still up for debate.

During Wednesday’s meeting, several district councillors expressed concern about whether the trails would be widely used by the public, given the almost rural location of High Falls Road.

“I’m just not sure this is the place to be spending the money,” said Gravenhurst district councillor Bob Colhoun. Colhoun question­ed whether Muskoka should have a larger plan in place to connect trails before it proceeds with such a big project.

The district reportedly explored five separate options for adding trails to High Falls Road, each with varying sizes of trails and road shoulders. The recommended option includes a nine-metre paved roadway that incorporates two 1.5-metre bicycle lanes. An additional metre for road shoulders and roundings is included in the option. The district would have to acquire several properties along the road in order to facilitate the plan, indicated Tony White, commissioner of engineering and public works.

Both Colhoun and Mus­koka Lakes councillor Nancy Thompson called the preferred option “overkill.”

“I just feel it’s a tremendous (way) from where we started,” said Thompson, noting that initially, only one bicycle lane was explored.

Muskoka Lakes councillor Stewart Martin said the district should take the money for the new trails and pay down its debt instead.

“Considering our current crisis with debt, I’m wondering if this is an absolutely necessary project,” said Martin.

District chair Gord Adams said he believes the project is not overly expensive. The district would not finance the road’s reconstruction with debt, he said. Still, like Colhoun, Adams questioned whether High Falls Road would attract enough traffic to make the project worthwhile.

“My hope was that our first (active transportation) project would be in a high-profile spot,” Adams remarked.

Bracebridge councillor Graydon Smith, who chairs Muskoka’s active transportation committee, said he believes the project would be worthwhile. Smith pointed out that new growth, such as the new high school, is taking place in that area. There are also other trails at nearby Wilson’s Falls.

“I’m not sure High Falls Road is the wilderness people think it is,” Smith said.

Pulling the plug on the project now, he added, could be damaging to future active transportation projects.

“If we want to derail the process, the quickest way to do that is to get everybody’s expectations up and then the pull the carpet out from under them at the last second,” Smith said.

In the end, the committee voted to proceed with the project.

If approved by district council, construction on High Falls Road could start as early as this fall, said White.