Since the Centennial Bridge opened in 1967, Miramichiers have been able to walk, bike or roll across it, but after it gets a long-planned new deck, this will no longer be an option..
Sidewalks running along both sides of the bridge will be removed during the upgrade that starts next summer, and they won’t be replaced.
“When I found out that they were planning to take the sidewalks out, that’s not right,” said Daniel McGraw, who crosses the bridge about three times a week on his mobility scooter.
The bridge is the fastest way of getting from Miramichi east, formerly Chatham, to downtown Miramichi, formerly Douglastown.
Plans to make it inaccessible to people on foot or in chairs provoked a protest at the kilometre-long bridge on Sunday.
The only other way for people in the area to cross the Miramichi River is to take a 20-kilometre detour and use the bridge in Newcastle.
“I’ve actually attempted to drive from where I live through to Douglastown, through Newcastle, and I made it halfway before [my chair] died,” McGraw said.
When McGraw heard about the rally being organized to protest removal of the sidewalks, he and his scooter were at the front of the group.
A sidewalk being removed when the province resurfaces the kilometre-long bridge across the Miramichi River won’t be put back, although residents say it’s crucial.
Not in the budget
The overhaul of Centennial Bridge has been a long time coming. It was first announced in 2015 by the Liberal government of Brian Gallant, with a nine-year timeline, but the project quickly faced delays.
The next government, under Progressive Conservative Blaine Higgs, cancelled contracts, and the timeline was set back further by rising costs. A sidewalk was taken out of the plans but eventually put back in.
“Myself, the other MLAs, folks from the city council had met with the department and the then minister was minister Green,” said Miramichi East Conservative MLA Michelle Conroy.
“And we fought to have the sidewalk put in because of the same reason: it’s essential.”
Now, with a new Liberal government, the project is on track to be finished in 2027, for a total cost of $195 million.
But in question period last week, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson said a sidewalk was never a part of the plan, even under the former PC government.
“The sidewalk was not part of the scope of the project. Your government had six years to do so to put it into the scope of the project,” Chiasson said when asked by the Opposition.
“It was never put in. It was never budgeted for.”
Conroy is determined to keep pushing for the sidewalk alongside other Miramichiers.
“It’s essential for people.
“A lot of people use that bridge, and we need to be able to get across on foot.”
Dangerous and potentially deadly
About 50 people gathered to walk in the rain to the midpoint of the bridge for the protest. Cars and transport trucks zoomed by — the posted speed limit is 80 kilometres an hour — splashing water onto the marchers, who weren’t deterred from chanting “Save our sidewalk.”
Sadie Rose Trudelle started organizing the march about a month ago, and started a Facebook group in support of a sidewalk on the bridge, which she said has about 400 members.
“There’s all kinds of reasons that people might not be able to drive a car or use the public transit or whatever, and I don’t think we can count those people out,” Trudelle said.
Trudelle said her son walks across the bridge every day at 4:30 a.m. to get to work, and she’d worry for his safety if there wasn’t a sidewalk.
“They keep telling us it’s finances,” Trudelle said. “But honestly, the first person that gets hurt on that bridge, it’s going to cost a heck of a lot more.”
Others at the rally voiced similar concerns.
“I don’t think I’d want to walk on it unless there was a sidewalk or some sort of barrier,” said resident Laurence Lynch. “It was built with a sidewalk. So I don’t know why they don’t fix the bridge and still have a sidewalk.”
“It’s kind of treacherous now and with different weather conditions that we get blowing winds, rain,” said Miramichi resident and business owner Karen Daley.
“Taking the sidewalk out. It’s just a moment of time before something fatal, and an accident does happen.”
The right kind of sidewalk
The government has said the projected cost of a sidewalk is about $50 million, since it would have to include on-ramps and separation from vehicle traffic.
But residents said they don’t need that, they just want to be able to cross safely.
“I understand the bridge needs to be maintained and fixed up, but that doesn’t mean that we have to lose a sidewalk,” said McGraw.
Miramichi Mayor Adam Lordon told CBC’s Maritime Noon that taking away the sidewalk would be a detriment to the promise of increasing active transportation along the river.
“When it was announced to the community, a sidewalk was a part of the project at the beginning,” he said. “And so I don’t think it’s unreasonable for the community to expect that a sidewalk will remain as it always has been, and as we were told it would be up until recently.”
At the legislature, Chiasson said his department is more than willing to “engage the community on transportation solutions,” and he hopes to hold a public meeting in the community soon.
But Trudelle and other residents say they aren’t giving up on the sidewalk, and are gathering signatures in an online petition that they hope to present to the government before it’s too late.
“We’re not going away,” Trudelle said. “We’re not going to be quiet.”
