[Moncton] Gateway Towers | 2 x 17s | Mixed Residential | Proposed

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by MonctonGoldenTri

I generally like roundabouts in larger city's but......

I agree with your sentiment, most monctonian's seem to treat roundabouts like a race-track with zero courtesy! I can only imagine the chaos when you add pedestrians trying to cross around 4-5pm!

Curious what the size of the city has to do with it?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by MonctonGoldenTri

The Irony with all those social warriors on Facebook. Their claims are based on false truths, you can clearly see the herd mentality with this group as non of them have put any efforts to analyze the location.

I used this map distance calculator https://www.calcmaps.com/map-distance/

To put this in perspective:
-The location of this project is 200m away from the river
-The Assumption BLV road gets 90M near Lutz and 77M near the RCMP office to the river itself
-The current courthouse is exactly the same distance to the river
-Half of the Blue Cross building is roughly 200m from the river
-Chateau Moncton is 20m from the river

I could go on and on

They are interested in maintaining the purity and sanctity of the riverfront mashlands.

This is fine to a point, and, I enjoy walking the trails too, but The trails along the Petitcodiac River in metro Moncton extend for at least 26 km (on both sides of the river), and, even if they end up developing the NB Power site next to the Gateway Towers, that will only add up to about 200m of dense construction along the riverfront, and, not a single cm of actual marshland will be sacrificed!!!

These guys are nothing but anti development Luddites and can never be satisfied. They should be ignored completely.

[MonctonGoldenTri]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Curious what the size of the city has to do with it?

It's a general observation that in larger cities, the majority drivers are well adapted to traffics circles and proper merging/zipper merging techniques. I have a significantly easier time driving through heavy traffic in cities like Montreal/Quebec compared to Moncton.

It seems the majority of drivers in Moncton are still adapting to the increase in traffic, often speeding to the yield/merge sign to be first. There are far too many impatient and reckless drivers on the road IMO. A lot of drivers just need to take a deep breath and realize it will take an additional 5-10 minutes to arrive at their destination compared to 5 years ago. The city will adapt but it won't happen overnight.

*there's always exceptions, but this is a general observation.

[MonctonGoldenTri]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

They are interested in maintaining the purity and sanctity of the riverfront mashlands.

This is fine to a point, and, I enjoy walking the trails too, but The trails along the Petitcodiac River in metro Moncton extend for at least 26 km (on both sides of the river), and, even if they end up developing the NB Power site next to the Gateway Towers, that will only add up to about 200m of dense construction along the riverfront, and, not a single cm of actual marshland will be sacrificed!!!

These guys are nothing but anti development Luddites and can never be satisfied. They should be ignored completely.

That's what they're shouting, trying to make general public believe this is their cause. But as you've pointed out, their main agenda is to put a limit on height/growth.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by MonctonGoldenTri

It's a general observation that in larger cities, the majority drivers are well adapted to traffics circles and proper merging/zipper merging techniques. I have a significantly easier time driving through heavy traffic in cities like Montreal/Quebec compared to Moncton.

It seems the majority of drivers in Moncton are still adapting to the increase in traffic, often speeding to the yield/merge sign to be first. There are far too many impatient and reckless drivers on the road IMO. A lot of drivers just need to take a deep breath and realize it will take an additional 5-10 minutes to arrive at their destination compared to 5 years ago. The city will adapt but it won't happen overnight.

*there's always exceptions, but this is a general observation.

I see. I think that's precisely why roundabouts are a good tool in some situations though, when they increase traffic flow and reduce collisions that cause injuries. Maybe Fredericton drivers deal with roundabouts a bit better but I have to say I see way more people misusing traditional signalized intersections. Of course there are some idiots who will do stupid stuff in a roundabout but at least it's less dangerous.

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

They are interested in maintaining the purity and sanctity of the riverfront mashlands.

This is fine to a point, and, I enjoy walking the trails too, but The trails along the Petitcodiac River in metro Moncton extend for at least 26 km (on both sides of the river), and, even if they end up developing the NB Power site next to the Gateway Towers, that will only add up to about 200m of dense construction along the riverfront, and, not a single cm of actual marshland will be sacrificed!!!

These guys are nothing but anti development Luddites and can never be satisfied. They should be ignored completely.

The irony is that in small and medium-sized cities - and often in large ones too - maintaining public access is one of the best ways to ensure the long-term health and protection of greenspaces, as the public acts to police them through their presence and by creating invested citizens who are interested in cleanups, plantings, etc.

For example, in Saint John I firmly believe that we would have needed many more years to secure the massive tri-level funding for Harbour Cleanup if it weren't for Harbour Passage bringing eyes on the water every day. That drove public opinion of the health of the waterway, and gave people a personal investment in how dirty/smelly/safe it was to be around.

[MonctonRad]

Excellent points.

The Gateway Towers are designed as an access point to the Riverfront Trail, and will provide a lot of amenities to users of the trail. Some of the commercial space will actually be river facing, and fronting the trail. Utilization of this part of the trail should increase exponentially, and, I would expect increased foot traffic all along the trail east as far as Downing Street.

As you say, increased pedestrian traffic will bring increased public awareness to the river and to the marshlands. Having more people on the riverfront would also make it a safer experience for everyone as well.

Win, win, win. The Luddites should just go and lay a big fat egg.