Niagara Parks moves flood-prone Fort Erie trail to higher ground
September 28, 2026 at 4:36 AM
Niagara Parks has relocated a flood-prone, 250-metre stretch of the Niagara River Recreation Trail in Fort Erie to higher ground beside the Niagara Parkway.
More than $7.1 million has gone into rebuilding the Fort Erie breakwall since ice damaged it in 2019.
Another 420 metres of low-lying trail that Niagara Parks called “prone to water damage” was regraded and rebuilt.
Repairs on the trail between Old Fort Erie and Mather Arch began in September 2025. The path closed one short section at a time so the rest of the trail stayed open to the public.
Niagara Parks has replaced more than 1.2 kilometres of the 2.15-kilometre breakwall, which protects the riverbank from Old Fort Erie to just past the Peace Bridge.
A coastal engineering firm studied the 2019 ice damage and advised Niagara Parks to strengthen the breakwall against future waves and ice.
Between 2023 and 2026, crews rebuilt 568 metres of the breakwall near Mather Arch and the Peace Bridge, the two hardest-hit areas, setting new concrete sections on a new foundation.
Large armour stone placed in the Niagara River in front of the rebuilt wall now absorbs wave energy before waves strike the concrete.
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans approved the in-river work, which supports fish habitat by slowing the water near shore.
Extreme storms and high water have forced constant repairs to the Fort Erie breakwall, prompting Niagara Parks to launch a shoreline protection strategy in 2025.
In 2023, Parks Canada acknowledged that climate change has contributed to more frequent severe storms and high water eroding the shoreline downstream at Fort Mississauga in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The Niagara Parks release did not say whether the remaining 950 metres of the Fort Erie breakwall will be rebuilt, or at what cost.
Work on a final small section of the breakwall is expected to finish in October.
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Andrew Hawlitzky
Andrew is a Niagara community journalist who has covered everything from local politics to annual festivals and breaking news. He works to make local news a platform where community voices lead the conversation. "If you don't like the news, go out and make some!"
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