Extend the pedestrian walkway over Riverfront Drive

Idea:

By extending the walkway across the St. John River using the old abutments already there the city can relieve crowding for walkers on the train bridge. It’s gotten dangerous during spring, summer, and fall with people on bicycles, scooters and skateboards zipping past at high speed.

Staff Feedback:

The Bridge piers belong to the Province of New Brunswick as they remain from the former Carleton Street Bridge. We've had many requests over the years to construct a 2nd dedicated walking bridge at this location using the former piers. A bridge engineering consultant was retained in 2017 and ultimately estimated that the cost to construct a pedestrian bridge here would be in the order of $45 million dollars; similar to the cost of simply building a new dedicated pedestrian bridge. The Bridge Piers are over 100 years old and have not been maintained for almost 40 years. Given the very high price tag for this type of upgrade, there are no current plans to move this project forward.

An alternative plan that the City will be exploring as part of the current Transportation Study is be to evaluate the feasibility of widening the sidewalk on the Westmorland Street Bridge to better facilitate walkers and cyclists. This would also likely require a significant capital investment; however, staff feels it would be a major enhancement to further promote active transportation crossing the River.