The District of Clearwater has received grant funding that the mayor says will help improve the walkability of the town.

The community was given $150,000 dollars yesterday from the province to build two multi-use paths and a trail for mountain biking.

Merlin Blackwell says one of those trails will be adjacent to Clearwater Road in part of the town centre.

“And at this point, we didn’t even have sidewalks on that road. So there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic going to restaurants, residences and walking around town. So getting them off the main roadway in a safe travel corridor is fantastic.”

Blackwell says the other multi-use trail planned will be a wheelchair-accessible path to Dutch Lake.

“There’s been a lot of talk over the years about connectivity between various parts of Clearwater, so that’s a lot of what we’ve been working on. Walking connections between bed and breakfasts, hotels, motels and restaurants around town, and doing it in a safe that’s also sort of interesting for people.”

Yesterday, the province gave out more than $1.2 million dollar in rural grants for 13 projects in the Thompson and Nicola regions, as part of the rural dividend grant program.

Blackwell says the $150,000-dollar grant from the province will cover most of the costs for those trail projects.