Recreation users who walk past the south side of the Comox Dam will be seeing some trail changes.

BC Hydro says the recreational trail will be rerouted away from the river and then loop back to the existing trail system to allow for trail continuity during upcoming reliability upgrades to the hydroelectric facilities.

鈥淲e have planned upgrades to the Comox Dam鈥檚 control building, backup power supply, and upgrades to the two spillway gates, with this work beginning this fall and last about two years,鈥� says Stephen Watson, spokesperson for BC Hydro. 鈥淭he recreational trail goes right through an area that will become a construction zone, so we鈥檝e developed a short detour that allows for the public to continue to safely connect to upstream or downstream trails during project construction. We know how important the trail system is to people.

鈥淲ork may begin around Aug. 16 and may be complete by around the end of September, though this will be dependent on the weather. During this trail work the existing trail along the river will remain open, though there may be intermittent closures. Please obey all site safety signage.鈥�

The transition to the rerouted trail, and the closure of the approximate 100-metre-long trail along the river beside the dam, will be determined in the months ahead.

BC Hydro says the rerouted trail may become permanent with the existing trail along the dam being decommissioned given its proximity to the facilities

BC Hydro maintains its Puntledge River Public Use Management Area that includes a series of trails on the north and south side of the Puntledge River, as well as the Comox Dam Picnic Site located by the north side of the dam. Public access to the picnic site will not be impacted by the project upgrade work.

Reliability and public safety are the main drivers for BC Hydro. The Comox-Puntledge Flow Control Improvement Project will help maintain reliability and improve public safety.

The cost of the project is $47 million.