St. Martins businesses prepare for added traffic with parkway opening

The newest section of the FundyParkway is set to open next week, and businesses in St. Martins are gearing up for what they expect will be a good year.

And they expect things to get even better when the full parkway is completed in two years time.

It's been a long time coming, says Mike Fiori, a Denver native who first visited the tiny seaside community in 1997.

He returned with his wife Barb and opened Salmon River Bed and Breakfast in 2008.

"I saw the future in the parkway opening up," said Fiori.

"It would be a good opportunity for me to retire from the police department and come up here."

The Fiori's later added a restaurant and say 2015 was their best year yet.

He credits the stunning local scenery and the exchange rate against the U.S. dollar.

Next Friday a new, 2.7 kmstretch of the Fundy Parkway will open, giving motoristsaccess to Long Beach.

Fioriexpects that will generate new interest, and when the parkway is complete in the spring of 2018, it will become the preferred route to Fundy National Park.

"The type of people that will be going up there, the nature lovers, if they see the opportunity to take this parkway instead of driving a four lane highway well, we know they're going to take the parkway," he said.

From her nearby home office, Tracey Grozik-Daleyis makingfinal preparations for the June opening for what is destined to become the village's newest business, Red Rock Gift Company.

Already the owner of a national wholesale business, she saw the potential in a storefront operation in her own community.

Grozik-Daley saidthere is far more tourist traffic in the village now than she remembers in her younger years.

"It's crazy, you drive down the road and see plates from just about anywhere on the cars," she said.

"You know it's always been there in the back of my mind. And we just said the opportunity was right, let's do it."

Construction work is now underway on the final, 5.9 kmstretch of the parkway.

Harley Tingley, the president of the Fundy Trail Development Authority,expects the road to be graveled to finish grade by this fall.

"First thing we'll do next year is call tender for guardrails," said Tingley.

"They'll put those up with chip seal, and then do the line markings."

Tingley saidthe parkway could technically open next year but under the schedule set up, the opening will not take place until May 2018.

That will be 20 years after the opening of the first 10 kilometrestretch of the parkway in 1998.