The Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail is a 296 km multi-use trail partnership between Lanark County, Renfrew County, and Papineau-Cameron Township connecting communities from Smiths Falls to Mattawa along the former Canadian Pacific Railway. The Algonquin Trail, the section so named in Renfrew County, includes 219 km of this recreational trail across 10 municipalities and the City of Pembroke.
For all inquiries related to the Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail, please visit their website.
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The County of Renfrew, owners of this linking recreational resource, operate, develop and maintain this asset under a management partnership. Check out the regulating by-laws for use of the Algonquin Trail.
Algonquin Trail in Petawawa
The Algonquin Trail is open in Petawawa but dead-ends at Portage Road prior to access onto Garrison Petawawa lands. Negotiations are ongoing between the County of Renfrew and Garrison personnel on the relocation of the trail due to the previous CPR Rail line following the path through the live-fire shooting range. This path needs to be moved now that the user has changed.
The town of Petawawa has twinned a portion of the Algonquin Trail in Petawawa from Town Centre through to Portage Road in order to provide user separation in the urban portion of this community. This twinned trail runs alongside the Algonquin Trail in the corridor adjacent to the roadway (Petawawa Boulevard). A portion of the twinned trail is open for non-motorized use from Town Centre to Portage Road. Only a small section of this twinned trail remains to be paved prior to the access to Garrison Petawawa.
Speed Limit
The maximum speed limit permitted throughout the Algonquin Trail is 50 km/hour on rural parts of the trail and 20 km/hour on urban parts of the trail. So the speed limit through Petawawa would be 20 km/hr or as otherwise posted.
ATV Use
The Algonquin Trail is only open to ATV’s and ORV’s from May 1 to November 30 (otherwise the trail can be used for passive use such as walking and cycling). A trail permit is required as of May 1, 2023. Please note, that the portion of the trail through the City of Pembroke for ATVs is not open yet. Should you wish to travel further than Pembroke, you will then need to leave the Algonquin Trail and access the CN Trail which is managed by the Renfrew County ATV Club. A permit is required for the CN Trail. Contact the club at info@renfrewcountyatv.ca.
Snowmobile Use
A permit is required for the use of a snowmobile on the Algonquin Trail, November 30 to April 30, from the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs.
Lanark County
A permit is requried to use the Lanark County portion of the Ottawa Valley Recreation Trail. Contact 613-267-4200 or jallen@lanarkcounty.ca.
Recognition
The Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail (the section through Renfrew County named Algonquin Trail) won the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Economic Development Excellence during the 62nd annual Economic Developers Council of Ontario conference and showcase. The award was presented during the 2018 President's Dinner and Awards of Excellence Ceremony. The receipt of Lieutenant Governor's Award for the Partnership Group representing the Ottawa Valley Recreational Trail was in addition to winning the Regional and Cross Border Collaboration and Partnership Award. The full press release on this significant regional recognition is available in the file attached.