Fredericton finally sees way to finish 'weakest link' in trail system

After years of advocates calling for progress, the City of Fredericton has unveiled a plan for how it will finish a section of trail considered the "weakest link" in the city's sprawling network of walking and cycling paths.

The Cross Town Trail is supposed to take users from where the Lincoln Trail ends in the downtown's southeast end, to the start of the Valley Trail in the southwest.

However, most of the blocks that make up the Cross Town Trail did not get the same treatment as the other 120 kilometres of former rail lines that wereconverted to trail in the 1990s.

At Thursday's mobility committee meeting, Sean Lee, the city's assistant director of operations and engineering, laid out how the gaps will be filled over the next few years by creating new trail sections on streets such asSmythe, Argyle and Aberdeen.

The new trail connections, however, largely won't be built on lands that were once rail lines. Much of that landhas been sold and developed in the past 20 years, Lee said.

"So we're workingwith the constraints that have developed over time."

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The plan to complete the Cross Town Trail would seeSmythe Street narrowed from where the Valley Trail Ends behind Atlantic Superstore, in order to install a separated trail on the eastern side of Smythe Street up to Argyle Street.

The path would then continue on Argyle Street with the construction of new trail on its northern side to take users to Northumberland Street, where a piece of existing trail already connectsto Westmorland Street.

The trail will then cross Westmorland Street and cut diagonally up to Aberdeen Street. From there, the trail will fork, with one section continuing along Aberdeen, crossing York Streetand taking users north along Carleton Street and into the downtown.

The second path will go in a southeastern direction, crossYork Street, and continue along a piece of land just south of N.B. Liquor. It will then take users east towardRegent Street, with a crossing to connect it to the eastern end of the Cross Town Trail.

"We've created,I guess overall, a safe systemwith safe crossings that are very intuitive," Lee said.

"It's also a reflection of how our downtown is structured. So we have a very urban downtown now so we're trying to give people more opportunity to be able to get around and get around without having to have a vehicle."

Lee said an exact cost for the project hasn't been calculated yet,but is estimated will be between half a million and $700,000 over a few years.

Those costs would include paving, concrete, separating posts, crossing signals and realigning street curbs.

Lee said parts of the trail that cross busystreets such as Smythe, York and Regent, will be outfitted with crossing lights, and quieter streets such as Northumberland likely won't be.

He said almost all of the city's 2023 active transportation budget will be directed to starting work on the new trail sections, with the entire project expected to take two to three years to finish.

Councillor, advocate pleased with plan

The Cross Town Trail passes through Coun. Cassandra LeBlanc's ward, and she said pushing for its completion was one of her top priorities when elected last year.

"We're densifying our urban core, so having an intuitive trail system that people can enjoy... I think is incredibly important as we move forward, and I'm really, really happy that we're finally taking steps to get there," she said.

The Fredericton Trails Coalition is largely credited for pushing the city to turn the former rail lines into multi-use trails back in the 1990s.

Coalition president Andre Areseneault was at the meeting Thursday and said he's pleased with the plan put forward.

"It was really a key solution to fixing the what I'll continue to call was the weakest link, right?So it's going to be great.People are going to be able to stay on the trail system and get around the downtown."

He said itis "unfortunate" the Cross Town Trail won't follow the old rail line, but he "felt very strong" that coming up with a timely solution was more important.