Businesses rejoice as Fundy Trail Parkway connector opens

The opening of a new road linking the Fundy Trail Parkway to a routefrom Alma to Moncton has businesses and tourism operators rejoicing.

"It's been a longtime dream on our bucket list for sure to have it completed," said Kathy Weir, one of the family members who own and operate Broadleaf Ranchwest ofHopewell Rocks Provincial Park.

"It's exciting to have finally have access for our visitors to come through a spectacular coastline that we have here in New Brunswick and join right into Fundy National Park. It's something to celebrate."

The chip-sealed connector road opened Tuesday. It links the eastern end of the parkway to Route 114 at the northern edge of Fundy National Park.

It means drivers can travel from St. Martins along the coast east to Fundy National Park, along Route 114 to Alma, north toHopewell Rocks Provincial Park and beyond to Moncton without needing to return to Route 1.

Before the connector, drivers had to either turn around and return the same way they came, or take another connector road north to the Sussex area and get on the highway to travel east.

Jim Campbell is mayor ofRiverside-Albert, a village northeast of Alma on Route 114, anda manager atCape Enrage, where visitors can take in the bay's towering cliffs and attractions such as a zip line.

"I believe that it's going to boost tourism," Campbell said of the connector. "I also believe that it's going to open the door for more economic development,new restaurants, hotels and so on."

Construction on the parkway began in the mid-1990s.The federal and provincial governments spent tens of millions to complete it.

The late businessman Mitchell Franklin, who owned a farm near St. Martins,is credited as helping to get the project off the ground, taking then-premier FrankMcKenna on a tour of the area.

Beverley Franklin, Mitchell Franklin's daughter, said it was an emotional drive along the connector road.

"I have been with this project for many, many years,long after my father had the dream," Franklin, the supervisor of the parkwayand co-ordinator of interpretive events, told Information Morning Moncton on Thursday."And for me to drive that dream, that road, it was a solitary drive.

"I suddenly felt his presence, and I knew he had a great big smile on his face.It was a very glorious, but yet tender moment for me because finally, the 60-year dream was a reality."

A long and winding road: Fundy Trail Parkway connects coastal tourist destinations

3 years ago

Duration 2:32

A road connecting the eastern end of the parkway to the north end of Fundy National Park has opened, decades after the coastal route was first imagined.

Weir said she expects the largest benefit will be from U.S.tourists who want to drive up the Fundy coast.

But they're already seeing the benefits.

"We're seeing Quebec and Ontario cars coming through and New Brunswickers who have heard about it for many years and are now able to access this whole southern coastline along the Bay of Fundy," Weir said.

The parkway, a not-for-profit gated park, is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Oct. 16.