N.B. Museum will be transformational, says Saint John mayor

Set to begin construction in the coming months, the New Brunswick Museum project won't just expand the venerableinstitution in Saint John. It will also upgradethe city's parking and pedestrian infrastructure, with a new snow-banlot for winters and upgraded surrounding sidewalks.

The old museum buildingin Saint John's north end will be updated and expanded to house research, exhibitionand community spaces under one roof,while its historical limestone facade will be maintained.

Speaking on Information Morning Saint John, Mayor Donna Reardon said the museum project will be a driver for majorchanges to the Douglas Avenueneighbourhood.

"There will be money put into improving the crosswalks there. There will be two covered transit stops that will be also provided as well," she said.

"So there's been some commitments there to improve that area."

The other upgrades, according to a recent presentation to Saint John council, include turning the Douglas Avenue and Bentley Street crosswalks into "lighted crosswalks" and an extension ofHarbour Passage, atrail that connects the west side and north end with the uptown.

Reardon said she hopes the city will be able to use the museum as "leverage" for more walkability surrounding the area.

Museum staff to park off site

Reardon said museum staff will have to parkoff-site at the museum's research and storage centre on LancasterAvenue, on thewest side.They will be shuttled to the main site on Douglas Avenue.

The parking arrangement is based on a parking studydone by the Canadian British Consulting Group,examining the annual number of visitors to the site.

"Between 2010 and 2020 the museum annually had about 45,000 visitors," Reardonsaid.

The study "also looked at the square footage of the museum, the annual number of visitors, at how visitors come to the museum."

The result, she said, is that 55 per cent of museum visitors will arrive by personal vehicle, while the rest will come as commuters and pedestrians.

"They could come with school field trips, they could come up off of thecruise ships on a bus," Reardon said.

She said the study used these numbers to make predictions of what the parking requirements should be.

"They looked at what parking is offered on the street right now and that about 50 per cent of the on-street parking is being used," she said.

"So that was part of the equation as well when they looked at all of the factors of what they needed for parking. So what [the museum] committed to for Saint John is that they will off-site their staff 15 to 20 parking spaces."

Concerns over speeding

While Reardonis positive about the project, some city councillorshave brought up concerns about the increased trafficthe museum will create on Douglas Avenue, a street already known for speeding drivers.

"Douglas Avenueright now is really treated by many residents as a through-way. When you get off that reversing Falls Bridge,it's a place where people drive quite fast,"Coun. Brent Harris said at council this week.

"There's lots of requests for traffic calming here."

New Brunswick Museum board chair Tracy Clinch said a traffic study,separate from the parking study,was done by the EXP engineering groupto address these concerns.

"There will be some additions to help try to control some of the pedestrian traffic in the area," Clinch said to council.

"We will continue to consult with city and province and residents in order to ensure that we minimize the impact of increased traffic in the area."

Clinch said no additional decisions have been made about traffic-calming measures for the Douglas Avenuearea surrounding museum.