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Online petition to the AFCD to stop concreting trails

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  1. #1

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    Online petition to the AFCD to stop concreting trails

    There's an online petition started by the HK Hiking Meetup calling on the AFCD to stop concreting 'hiking' trails.

    chris_yang22 and HowardCoombs like this.

  2. #2

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    Ah well, here it goes again, signing up to an online petition site. As much as I hate scree paths, it is pretty sad to see all the concrete and not feel at all like you're truly hiking when you're walking up and down a concrete path/stairs. And man are those stairs hard!

    One of the meetup organizers is a landscape architect for the government. Does anyone know if she can particularly help with this issue? Or perhaps she already has tried or doesn't have any influence in that area?


  3. #3

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    I believe that the scree paths you mention are typically the result of poor or non-existent trail planning. This kind of path tends to follow a steep fall line down a slope, so any rain causes water run-off which loosens or erodes the exposed earth.

    The AFCD doesn't understand how to build sustainable trails (which do not follow fall lines and are resistant to erosion), so they just slap concrete stairs up and down hills.

    The Twins on HK Island would be a prime example of this- a couple of giant staircases linked by eroded and slippery dirt and rock. A sustainable trail would look more like a series of far less steep switchbacks that zig-zagged up the side of a mountain, or it would be a trail that was properly armoured and reinforced with rock and timber (an example would be the Grouse Grind in Vancouver- extremely steep but far more natural looking that HK trails).

    When it comes to parks, the AFCD just has it's head stuck up its collective ass when it comes to looking at ideas from the twentieth century. They are incredibly resistant to change. I know of one group that has made some recent progress with them, but it's taken literally over a decade of campaigning to get some minor changes made.

    Last edited by jgl; 07-11-2013 at 11:59 AM.

  4. #4

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    I agree completely. And the concrete stairs, which are difficult to avoid on HK Island, are so hard on the knees. You're right about the switch backs -- I hadn't even thought about that and how they are strangely missing on HK's steep hills.


  5. #5

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    can we please have more railings as well


  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by scrambler:
    can we please have more railings as well
    Only if they are made of concrete, but painted over to look like crappy imitation logs.

    I have nothing to substantiate this at all, but I strongly suspect that the AFCD is assessed on how many kilometres of concrete trail they roll out every year. Or that they have some kind of dodgy arrangement with a big construction company.

    Surely the amount of concrete they put in, badly, cannot be down to simply ineptness.