Saint John council seeks public feedback to create uptown transportation corridor

The City of Saint John is built largely for cars and large industry but municipal council is hoping to change the concept in its uptown.

It is seeking public input on the redesign of Charlotte Street — to make it a complete street.

“The city is still pretty car-focused — so a complete street is really trying to balance it,” Coun. Brent Harris said. “Make it work for all users, whether it is pedestrians, transit users, cyclists, active transportation.”

He said Saint John, the oldest incorporated city, was originally built as a pedestrian-friendly city, but as it moved to an industrial giant, the priorities shifted.

“Somewhere around the 1950s to the early 1990s, we really focused all our infrastructure development on cars,” Harris said. “It’s left us with a bit of a mixed bag.”

Harris said the way people get themselves from Point A to Point B is changing, mentioning the newfound popularity of e-bikes and cycling.

“We’ve continued to lag behind … in providing access to those protected bike lanes as well as clear connection corridors,” he said.

The city has created a bike lane on both sides of University Avenue and in the spring and summer bollards create a physical barrier. It also intends to do some work on Main Street.

The Charlotte Street redesign would include a dedicated bike lane on the west side of the street, likely without bollards due to the nature of the street and the various driveways.

It would move all parking to the east side of the street.

The design would change the flow of traffic between Duke and St. James streets by removing two-way traffic flow and only allowing one-way in the southern direction. It would maintain two-way from St. James to Broad streets.

It would also add curb extensions, raised crosswalks, rectangular rapid flashing beacons at crosswalks and tactile warning surface indicators at various locations – all to improve accessibility.

Coun. David Hickey said the goal is to make Charlotte Street a transportation corridor.

“The more we add folks to the uptown, the more we add more buildings, the more it becomes imperative that we increase those options for people,” he said in an interview on Friday.

He is a cyclist and said he understands how hard it is to do that in the city. One cyclist died in 2021 and two cyclists died in 2022.

“We want to make sure the lane is visible enough that it is safe,” he said, adding that bollards likely won’t be possible due to the nature of the street and those that come off of it.

Hickey said consulting with the community and businesses will be critical to any work done on Charlotte Street because it will be important to get such a major overhaul right.

“People aren’t going to use those options if we don’t build them,” he said. “So, we have to make sure they’re safe, we’ve got to make sure that they are done, and we’ve got to make sure they are connected to other routes of the city to really build a network so that people say, ‘Hey, you know what? Maybe active transportation options are reasonable.’”