Main Street project fixes decades-old errors in key Saint John route

Nipun Tiwari · CBC News

· Posted: Jul 16, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

An upgrade of  Main Street and the Main Street Viaduct, 1 of the largest projects of the Saint John operation season, promises large improvements — and corrects immoderate aged mistakes.

When the enactment is completed successful precocious summer, Main Street velocity limits volition person dropped to 50 kilometres an hr from 60, and the fig of lanes reduced to 4 from six  — 2 successful each direction.

Accessible infrastructure similar audible postulation lights and tactile sidewalks are being added to the street, on with greenish space. 

"This is simply a truly important connector for 2 major, precise densely populated neighbourhoods successful the metropolis and not everyone has entree to a vehicle," said metropolis postulation technologist Jill DeMerchant. 

"We're besides introducing different modes of proscription for folks who don't privation to drive. So it's providing an equitable abstraction for each of the mode users successful the city."

The biggest changes volition beryllium the city's archetypal extended protected motorcycle lane, replacing the outer 2 lanes successful some directions. Both sides volition person factual barriers dividing the motorcycle and conveyance lanes. 

Construction started successful May with postulation reduced to 1 lane connected each broadside for overmuch of the summertime and is slated for completion successful August, DeMerchant said.

The task was announced successful 2022 but delayed successful 2023. When the metropolis announced operation would commencement this summer, the program received a scope of feedback connected societal media, wherever the politician and metropolis unit posted updates related to the project. 

WATCH | Project aims to marque 'over-constructed' thoroughfare a abstraction for each roadworthy users: 

Some posters praised the project. Others said it should person been enactment connected clasp until Harbour Bridge repairs — present slated for a 2028 completion — were finished oregon called the task a discarded of payer money. 

Saint John presently has 3 different projects to summation accessibility astatine intersections and 5 that are including motorcycle lanes and progressive proscription upgrades.

The Main Street project comes astatine a outgo of much than $3.8 million, including $1.76 cardinal from the federal government. The state is providing $495,000.

DeMerchant said the city's postulation information shows the lane reductions connected Main Street won't person important impacts connected traffic.

Project bigger than motorcycle lanes, says cycling advocate

Cycling advocator Nick Cameron said the motorcycle lanes volition marque the thoroughfare safer for cyclists, and the traffic-flow benefits volition transportation implicit widely.

"I deliberation sometimes these projects get characterized excessively overmuch arsenic a cycling lone project," helium said. 

"With these lane reductions, what you're doing is you're reducing the fig of struggle points."

Both DeMerchant and Cameron — who has antecedently worked successful determination readying — said the viaduct was constructed to grip much conveyance postulation than it ever regularly sees.

"Six lanes ne'er made sense," Cameron said. "By reducing that, it's reducing struggle points for drivers, reducing the crossing region for pedestrians and expanding sight-line visibility for everyone." 

Correcting history's mistakes

DeMerchant said a large portion of the task is correcting readying mistakes made successful the 1960s, erstwhile the metropolis "had a imaginativeness of what they thought the metropolis was going to look like."

"For that intent , they decided to instrumentality Main Street … and grow that retired to [six lanes] due to the fact that they anticipated that the conveyance volumes would grow to a constituent wherever that would beryllium necessary. Looking backmost connected that present we spot that that wasn't the case."

Benjamin Peterson, a Saint John nonmigratory who researched Maritime municipality readying past for his master's degree, said the 1960s were years of municipality renewal in Saint John and beyond. The enlargement of Main Street had consequences for what was erstwhile a thriving commercialized country of the city.

"You had these large programs with the federal, provincial and municipal governments expropriating houses, demolishing neighbourhoods to marque country for proscription infrastructure for commercialized improvement for these large projects," Peterson said.

These developments included a wider Main Street, the Place 400 bureau gathering and the Lord Beaverbrook Rink among others. But galore projects, Peterson said, didn't get built. 

"As we benignant of travel to presumption with possibly immoderate of these projects that were archetypal dreamed up successful the [1950s-1960s] arsenic they didn't travel to fruition oregon arsenic things change, I deliberation it's precise tenable to spell backmost to the drafting committee and to revise immoderate of the infrastructure," helium said. 

Cameron said the alteration volition "activate the streetscape" conscionable by opening it to much people, including those successful vehicles.

"But the much radical we tin get retired of their cars —  and not conscionable passing done the area, but really meandering — much businesses on those areas volition person much of those serendipitous unplanned visits," helium said.

"I deliberation it's going to provender into this rebirth of the area."