An area popular with dog walkers and rafters will soon be closed to the public due to safety concerns.
The land at the end of Bearspaw Dam Road N.W. is owned by Canadian Pacific and TransAlta and is a popular area for local residents.
Officials with the railway say there have been too many close calls where trains have nearly hit people and earlier this year there was an incident where a family pet was run over by a train.
CP is erecting a 600 metre chain link fence along the tracks to keep people out.
Regular users of the area are upset, but Canadian Pacific says it's a matter of public safety.
"It's come to the point where we feel we need to take this additional step to make sure we can avoid a potential serious situation from occurring," said Ed Greenberg from CP.
"It's a well used place and it's a great place to bring your dogs and even if you don't have pets it's a great place to come down and walk and enjoy, and see some wildlife around here and enjoy the river," said Mark Toth.
The fence will be up within three weeks and after that, people who enter the area could be fined $287 for trespassing.
