Move SJ plans future of transportation in Saint John

The City of Saint John is turning to householdsurveys and public meetings for adviceon how to plan the next 25 yearsof transportation in the city.

The new transportation strategy, Move SJ,is gathering information on how people and products move across the region, including pedestrian, cycling and roadway traffic, parking and accessibility.

"And given that Saint John is a key port and rail terminal, we'll also look at goods moving primarily by truck from those distribution terminals onto the main highways through to the city," said Mark Reid ofthe city's growth and development services department.

"The future of transportation could include increased reliance in transit, there could be additional infrastructure for pedestrian and cycling movements in Saint John, building on some of the work we've done to date in the city'sactive transportation plan," he said.

"We could look at things such as better shared facilities on the road, getting away from designing roads for cars and designing them for all users increased cycling lanes, better crosswalks, things like that to draw in other users of the transportation system."

Two public meetings this week

Given the influx ofcommuter traffic to the city, the 2,300phone surveys are also involving surrounding municipalities, said Tim O'Reilly, manager of traffic and pedestrian services with the City of Saint John.

"One of the main points of the first phase is to develop some overarching goals for the transportation system for the next 25 years, and to do that, we really need to get some community input as to what that is going to look like," said 'O'Reilly.

"So a big part of phase one is consultation to find out travel patterns to help identify what roads will be used, what different modes of transportation will be used."

O'Reilly says the plan will guide transportation infrastructure investments within the city. It follows the adoption of the city's broader municipal plan, Plan SJ, whichis designed to reel in urban sprawl and build a more efficient city.

"The next piece of the puzzle is to provide transportation and infrastructure to meet that development demand," he said.

The city spends between $29-$30 million a year on transportation between its capital and operating budgets, said Reid.

"So it's a fairly significant investment from a municipal perspective," he said."So having this plan to guide that investment on a yearly basis is quite important."

The city will also invite input from the publicat two open houses this week.The first drop-in sessionwill be held on Wednesday from 4:30-7 p.m.at HillcrestBaptist Church on 476 Lancaster Ave. A second meeting will take place Thursday from 4:30-7 p.m.in the community room of theSaint John Police Force Headquarters at Peel Plaza.