The Trans Canada Trail, a project begun in 1992 and now marketed as The Great Trail, is expected to be complete this year.

The trail is built by volunteers, and funded by donors, and provincial and federal governments. According to Edmund Aunger, cyclist and Professor Emeritus in Political Science at the University of Alberta, it began as a response to a fatal accident along the Trans Canada Highway near Calgary in 1985. It currently stretches over 21,000 kilometres, from B.C. to the Northwest Territories to Newfoundland.

But Aunger says much of what's considered trail isn't actually trail - it's the shoulders of highways. Aunger believes the trail is a risk, and declaring it nearly complete is irresponsible. Aunger's wife, Elizabeth Sovis was killed during a cycling trip along the Transthe new national dream, of course the railroad was the original national dream, but safety was the very first priority for the building of this trail.

"It's something that doesn't go away... you don't forget the pools of blood and the kids' mangled bodies.'' - Trail founder Bill Pratt, describing the accident to the Calgary Herald, Apr. 25, 1994

You know, I've cycled all over Canada, I've cycled in countries in Europe, I don't think people understand fully the health benefits, the safety benefits, but also the economic benefits of a trail of this kind. I've spoken to many people in Europe who've said to me "we would love to come cycling in Western Canada, you know we've heard so much about Canada, that's where we'd really love to do