A local group with plans to improve the Trans-Canada Trail from Altona to Gretna, hopes to make some headway on the project this summer.

Spokesperson, Jake Enns, says they'd like to start improving the surface of the 5.5 mile trail by laying quarter-inch down crushed rock packed along a 6-foot width. The committee has its sights set on completing a half-mile stretch this year.

"We know that quarter-down, when it's packed down, is almost like concrete, so it should be a very nice smooth trail once we do that," he explained. "And that's why we are targeting half-a-mile, just to do a sample so that people can see it and find out how it works for them."

So far, the committee has about $8,900 in grants and donations, and Enns says they need another $3,000 or $4,000 in order to complete that short stretch.

"The Altona Community Foundation has granted us three-thousand dollars and it needs to be used," he explained. "There is (also) a matching component to that fund which comes from the (Manitoba) 150 Program..and we also have some other private donations that we can use."

Unfortunately, six other funding applications for the project were not approved. "So, we were kind of disappointed in that," said Enns. Meantime, the committee has decided to develop an information brochure about the project and the members on the committee in hopes of creating additional awareness of the plans and generating more donations.

The estimated cost of smoothing out the entire 5.5 mile trail surface will cost between $75,000 to 100,000, according to Enns.

Additional future plans for the trail include improving the right-of-way by planting some native grasses and a few trees along the stretch.