Parks Canada puts brakes on Icefields Parkway bike trail in Alberta

The agency had budgeted about $66 million to build the 107-kilometre route, along with other facilities such as parking lots, campsites and washrooms. (File photo: Parks Canada/Facebook)

Parks Canada says it won’t go ahead with a controversial plan to build a bike trail along the scenic Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper National Parks.

The agency had budgeted about $66 million to build the 107-kilometre route, along with other facilities such as parking lots, campsites and washrooms.

It says that money will now be spent elsewhere in the national park system.

The highway is considered a classic cycling tour, but riders are restricted to its narrow shoulder.

Parks Canada had proposed a separate, paved route buffered from the busy road by 10 to 20 metres of trees.

But that idea was criticized as it became clear how much of the wildlife-rich valley the trail would eat up.

Even Parks officials acknowledged it would induce further development.

Environmental groups calculated that just the trail would pave an area of national park equal to 116 football fields.