After a decade of planning and negotiations, construction will begin Monday on Kalispell's long-awaited Parkline Trail.

The city of Kalispell is hosting a construction contract signing event at 6 p.m. on Monday at 15 Depot Park, on the north side of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce office.

The ceremony marks the initiation of construction on the long-awaited multi-use path. City representatives will join contractor Sandry Construction to officially sign the contract for the project. Guest speakers will celebrate what’s expected to be a “transformative moment,” as described in a press release from the city. The public is invited to attend.

Installation of the Kalispell Parkline Trail is expected to be completed this year after extensive work on the part of the city and numerous community partners to reach this point.

The city received a $10 million federal grant to fund the project — and other infrastructure improvements — in 2015. By that time, talks were already well underway about the possibility of removing the BNSF railroad tracks running east-west through downtown Kalispell and replacing them with a recreational amenity.

But it took another five-plus years to sort out all the minutiae of the ambitious redevelopment plan, such as securing the right-of-way from BNSF, relocating the rail-served customers to the new Glacier Rail Park industrial site northeast of the city and awarding a bid, which ultimately came to almost $6 million, to a contractor for the removal of the tracks and the pavement installation.

The press release for the event heralded the ceremony as a “monumental accomplishment after many years of planning and persistence.”