The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Speaking of multi use paths...



Good to see.

I don't know how my eyes noticed it scrolling through, but I chuckled to see "yeild" [sic] written on that sign.

[DyAm00394]

All 12 lots of vacant lands on Thornbrough Street now have SOLD signs up. It was being sold with plans/ideas for residential developments (townhomes/garden homes).

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

All 12 lots of vacant lands on Thornbrough Street now have SOLD signs up. It was being sold with plans/ideas for residential developments (townhomes/garden homes).

Yeah, the realtors Bob and Jake McVicar shared that they had sold it a week or two ago as "land for at least 300 units to a young motivated local developer."

I was wondering if it might be Nextport, the developer of the Burlington Flats, but that's just a random guess.

[sailor734]

MacD's for the corner of University and Millidge Ave approved by PAC 6-1 vote with several members of PAC expressing concerns about traffic entering and exiting the businesses that close to the intersection.,.......also about drive through lines backing up onto the street.

https://tj.news/saint-john-south/proposed-mcdonalds-passes-planning-committee-amid-traffic-concerns.

Interestingly, there was talk about the closed Millidgeville fire station probably going to be declared as surplus and how adding it to the corner parcel would allow a second access from Millidge Ave to service Jean Coutu, MacDonalds and whatever might be built on the fire station site.

"Coun. Gary Sullivan, a councillor at large, said that the issue comes down to the parking lot and people who can’t get out. He said that “ideally” there’d be another exit on Millidge Avenue and asked how that could be handled.

Reade said that cross-access at the fire station site could be a “safety valve” for the parking lot, and said that the land could end up on the market later this year or next through a request for expressions of interest. With regard to measures that could be taken while the city owns the land, he noted that the existing driveway would have to be narrowed."

These are good points. As it is, I know from experience that it can be very difficult to make a left turn out of either Wendys/Tims or Jean Coutu.

[DyAm00394]

An interesting discussion on housing starts lagging here in SJ. The people interviewed were Mike Moffatt, (an economist at the University of Ottawa) and Arlene Dunn, (CEO of the Saint John Construction Association). https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-2...-saint-john-lagging-comes-housing-starts

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

An interesting discussion on housing starts lagging here in SJ. The people interviewed were Mike Moffatt, (an economist at the University of Ottawa) and Arlene Dunn, (CEO of the Saint John Construction Association). https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-2...-saint-john-lagging-comes-housing-starts

A point that was missed was Saint John had 90,000 residents in the early 1970’s, so we do have a lot of capacity to absorb new residents. In fact SJ is growing population wise at a clip higher than the national average, however the researcher never looked into it and made the assumption we are not. There are valid points about our topography so be nice if we had a grant program to offset those initial costs. We have a lot of announcements, but it’s the follow through that is lagging.

[DyAm00394]

City council has approved at tonight’s meeting to declare 19 Anglin Drive as surplus parcel of land for development purposes.

“The City continues to review its land holdings and has identified that the parcel of land located at 19 Anglin Drive (PID 55054779) could be used for development purposes and therefore staff recommend that Council declare the parcel surplus to its needs”.

[RaginRonic]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

City council has approved at tonight’s meeting to declare 19 Anglin Drive as surplus parcel of land for development purposes.

“The City continues to review its land holdings and has identified that the parcel of land located at 19 Anglin Drive (PID 55054779) could be used for development purposes and therefore staff recommend that Council declare the parcel surplus to its needs”.

Which is the former Anglin Drive Ballpark, where in the 90s, I saw at least one North End Little League title won.

[sailor734]

Noticed they are framing up the townhouses(I assume?) across from the northend Sobeys on the corner of Churchill Blvd and Visart. Foundations have been in for some time with no activity.

[DyAm00394]

City council has decided at a special meeting last night to restore Heather Way back to 4 lanes. Staff will plan to resurface the asphalt on those lanes next year at a cost of around $200,000 to $325,000.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

City council has decided at a special meeting last night to restore Heather Way back to 4 lanes. Staff will plan to resurface the asphalt on those lanes next year at a cost of around $200,000 to $325,000.

I'm not familiar with that street but people claimed the narrower road was more dangerous and I have a hard time buying that.

CBC article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns...ucture-deficit-traffic-calming-1.7399083

[KnoxfordGuy]

4 lanes for that small stretch with so few people is absolutely ridiculous. A neighbourhood of what? 500 people?

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by OliverD

I'm not familiar with that street but people claimed the narrower road was more dangerous and I have a hard time buying that.

CBC article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns...ucture-deficit-traffic-calming-1.7399083

Ironically it terminates in both ends at two lane roads. Surprised the city had no balls on this one.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Ironically it terminates in both ends at two lane roads. Surprised the city had no balls on this one.

I get the feeling people are just getting generally pissed at the whole road diet/traffic calming/roads given over to bike lane thing that seems to have become fashionable in city traffic departments lately.

I recently drove the entire length of University Ave (used to be 4 lanes before building rarely used bike lanes got trendy) stuck behind a sweet old dear in a Corolla driving 30-40 kph...... I get where they are coming from.

[sjuser23]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I get the feeling people are just getting generally pissed at the whole road diet/traffic calming/roads given over to bike lane thing that seems to have become fashionable in city traffic departments lately.

I recently drove the entire length of University Ave (used to be 4 lanes before building rarely used bike lanes got trendy) stuck behind a sweet old dear in a Corolla driving 30-40 kph...... I get where they are coming from.

I recently walked down a street and not 1 car. We should close it to cars....

In the 50's and 60's and beyond we changed the dynamic of all transportation to be car centric. We made it harder and harder for pedestrians and any other form of transportation so i am not against cars, i think we should think about all forms of transportation and not favour one over the other regardless of how many people use it. Neighbourhoods are better when people can comfortably walk down a street. If your car trip gets delayed by seconds or minutes in favour of more equity in transportation... oh well....

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by sjuser23

I recently walked down a street and not 1 car. We should close it to cars....

In the 50's and 60's and beyond we changed the dynamic of all transportation to be car centric. We made it harder and harder for pedestrians and any other form of transportation so i am not against cars, i think we should think about all forms of transportation and not favour one over the other regardless of how many people use it. Neighbourhoods are better when people can comfortably walk down a street. If your car trip gets delayed by seconds or minutes in favour of more equity in transportation... oh well....

'Equity in transportation' lol. Buzzwords. Closing two lanes of traffic to accommodate one bike and one electric scooter daily is ridiculous. You ARE against cars. There's a small clique of very online people who think Saint John will become Amsterdam on the Bay of Fundy if we inconvenience enough drivers. In practice bike lanes go utterly unused.

Saint John needs to commission existing bike lane usage studies before building a single new one, and also rip out those showing poor usage.

I am chiefly a pedestrian and our sidewalks are often in terrible shape, or simply absent in more sub/exurban areas. That should be prioritized over bike lane cargo cult vanity.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

'Equity in transportation' lol. Buzzwords. Closing two lanes of traffic to accommodate one bike and one electric scooter daily is ridiculous. You ARE against cars. There's a small clique of very online people who think Saint John will become Amsterdam on the Bay of Fundy if we inconvenience enough drivers. In practice bike lanes go utterly unused.

Saint John needs to commission existing bike lane usage studies before building a single new one, and also rip out those showing poor usage.

I am chiefly a pedestrian and our sidewalks are often in terrible shape, or simply absent in more sub/exurban areas. That should be prioritized over bike lane cargo cult vanity.

Well said.

I'd support bike lanes if I thought they were seeing any amount of use. As it is I see them as little more than virtue signaling on the part of municipal politicians and works staff.

[OliverD]

This particular scenario isn't just about bike lanes, is it?

Besides, is it really virtue signalling if the addition of protected bike lanes makes roads safer for everyone – not just cyclists?

https://nickhedley.substack.com/p/13-year-study-finds-protected-bike

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by OliverD

This particular scenario isn't just about bike lanes, is it?

Besides, is it really virtue signalling if the addition of protected bike lanes makes roads safer for everyone – not just cyclists?

https://nickhedley.substack.com/p/13-year-study-finds-protected-bike

True. This story was about the city abandoning supposedly unneeded road width to save money on maintenance costs. However, ratepayers in the area disagreed voraciously.

I made the point that this reaction seems to be one that is beginning to grow among a large number of people to municipal governments making transportation decisions that don't seem to recognize the priorities of the vast majority of road users.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by sailor734

True. This story was about the city abandoning supposedly unneeded road width to save money on maintenance costs. However, ratepayers in the area disagreed voraciously.

I made the point that this reaction seems to be one that is beginning to grow among a large number of people to municipal governments making transportation decisions that don't seem to recognize the priorities of the vast majority of road users.

But it's not really about recognizing the priorities about road users. Municipalities need to make these decisions based on objective criteria, not feelings and vibes. Plenty of people will insist that roundabouts are dangerous, for example, when they in fact result in far fewer injuries. There's a lot of perceptions that people have about traffic and safety that are misguided and not rooted in reality.

I get the sense that by using the term "ratepayers" instead of "citizens" you're implying that these people deserve a say in this decision. They are entitled to provide their input to the city but if that input is objectively wrong, then it should be ignored. Perhaps if "ratepayers" insist on having things their way then the true cost of their decisions should be reflected in their property tax bills.

I just took a look at Google Maps and it does seem nonsensical for a low density residential neighbourhood to be served by a four lane boulevard that only connects to two lane roads. And then you have yet another boulevard off of it to boot.