Construction has begun in the town of Cochrane on a corridor that will link the downtown with the Quarry, the future site of retail shopping, community gathering sites and residential development.

"Bringing this project to fruition required the contribution of many," said Cochrane mayor Truper McBride at an opening event for the corridor. "(We're celebrating) the first of a number of key milestones that will be met to ensure the success of this project.

Heading west on Highway 1A, travellers descending into Cochrane down the 'Big Hill' are greeted with a stunning mountain vista slightly marred by a very large gravel lot right in the middle of town.

Between 1964 and 1988, the area was home to Domtar, a wood treatment facility who, according to the Cochrane Eagle newspaper, used a tar/creosote mixture consisting of semi-volatile polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and pentachlorophenol to treat to railway ties leading to the contamination of the soil.