Latest news with #Miramichi
CTV News
12 hours ago
- General
- CTV News
N.B. government says adding sidewalk to resurfaced Miramichi bridge would 'throw it out of balance'
The New Brunswick government says adding a sidewalk to resurfacing plans on Miramichi's Centennial Bridge would throw the entire span 'out of balance.' 'It's not that I don't want a sidewalk,' said Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson, to reporters on Wednesday. 'A sidewalk has to be a separate project, because the safety standards of today kind of dictate what we need to do to rehab that bridge.' On Sunday, about 100 demonstrators gathered on the Centennial Bridge to protest refurbishment plans that don't include a sidewalk. 'The actual sidewalk cannot be attached to the bridge because it will throw it out of balance. It has to be supported from the piers,' said Chiasson. 'We have to have a certain lane width. We have to have certain widths of a breakdown lane and then we have to have obviously the barriers that keep people from driving off the side of the bridge.' Chiasson said the provincial government was speaking with the municipality about the possibility of adding bus passes and water taxis, to address accessibility issues for pedestrians once the refurbishment is complete. In April, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure said the sidewalk was removed from bridge refurbishment plans due to financial restraints. On Friday, MLA Michelle Conroy said removing sidewalks from the bridge's refurbishment plan would negatively impact the community. 'The people of Miramichi deserve the independence to safely walk across that bridge,' said Conroy. An estimated 13,000 vehicles cross the Centennial Bridge daily. A full shutdown of the 58-year-old bridge, initially scheduled for this summer, has been delayed to 2026. Bridge Protest Demonstrators are pictured on the Centennial Bridge in Miramichi, N.B., on June 1, 2025. (Nick Moore/CTV Atlantic) For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CBC
2 days ago
- Health
- CBC
Miramichiers say Centennial Bridge sidewalk needs to stay
Social Sharing Since the Centennial Bridge opened in 1967, Miramichiers have been able to walk, bike or roll across it, but after it gets a long-planned new deck, this will no longer be an option.. Sidewalks running along both sides of the bridge will be removed during the upgrade that starts next summer, and they won't be replaced. "When I found out that they were planning to take the sidewalks out, that's not right," said Daniel McGraw, who crosses the bridge about three times a week on his mobility scooter. The bridge is the fastest way of getting from Miramichi east, formerly Chatham, to downtown Miramichi, formerly Douglastown. Plans to make it inaccessible to people on foot or in chairs provoked a protest at the kilometre-long bridge on Sunday. The only other way for people in the area to cross the Miramichi River is to take a 20-kilometre detour and use the bridge in Newcastle. "I've actually attempted to drive from where I live through to Douglastown, through Newcastle, and I made it halfway before [my chair] died," McGraw said. When McGraw heard about the rally being organized to protest removal of the sidewalks, he and his scooter were at the front of the group. Miramichiers protest removal of sidewalk on Centennial Bridge 7 hours ago Duration 1:51 Not in the budget The overhaul of Centennial Bridge has been a long time coming. It was first announced in 2015 by the Liberal government of Brian Gallant, with a nine-year timeline, but the project quickly faced delays. The next government, under Progressive Conservative Blaine Higgs, cancelled contracts, and the timeline was set back further by rising costs. A sidewalk was taken out of the plans but eventually put back in. "Myself, the other MLAs, folks from the city council had met with the department and the then minister was minister Green," said Miramichi East Conservative MLA Michelle Conroy. "And we fought to have the sidewalk put in because of the same reason: it's essential." Now, with a new Liberal government, the project is on track to be finished in 2027, for a total cost of $195 million. But in question period last week, Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson said a sidewalk was never a part of the plan, even under the former PC government. "The sidewalk was not part of the scope of the project. Your government had six years to do so to put it into the scope of the project," Chiasson said when asked by the Opposition. "It was never put in. It was never budgeted for." Conroy is determined to keep pushing for the sidewalk alongside other Miramichiers. "It's essential for people. "A lot of people use that bridge, and we need to be able to get across on foot." Dangerous and potentially deadly About 50 people gathered to walk in the rain to the midpoint of the bridge for the protest. Cars and transport trucks zoomed by — the posted speed limit is 80 kilometres an hour — splashing water onto the marchers, who weren't deterred from chanting "Save our sidewalk." Sadie Rose Trudelle started organizing the march about a month ago, and started a Facebook group in support of a sidewalk on the bridge, which she said has about 400 members. "There's all kinds of reasons that people might not be able to drive a car or use the public transit or whatever, and I don't think we can count those people out," Trudelle said. Trudelle said her son walks across the bridge every day at 4:30 a.m. to get to work, and she'd worry for his safety if there wasn't a sidewalk. "They keep telling us it's finances," Trudelle said. "But honestly, the first person that gets hurt on that bridge, it's going to cost a heck of a lot more." Others at the rally voiced similar concerns. "I don't think I'd want to walk on it unless there was a sidewalk or some sort of barrier," said resident Laurence Lynch. "It was built with a sidewalk. So I don't know why they don't fix the bridge and still have a sidewalk." "It's kind of treacherous now and with different weather conditions that we get blowing winds, rain," said Miramichi resident and business owner Karen Daley. "Taking the sidewalk out. It's just a moment of time before something fatal, and an accident does happen." The right kind of sidewalk The government has said the projected cost of a sidewalk is about $50 million, since it would have to include on-ramps and separation from vehicle traffic. But residents said they don't need that, they just want to be able to cross safely. "I understand the bridge needs to be maintained and fixed up, but that doesn't mean that we have to lose a sidewalk," said McGraw. Miramichi Mayor Adam Lordon told CBC's Maritime Noon that taking away the sidewalk would be a detriment to the promise of increasing active transportation along the river. "When it was announced to the community, a sidewalk was a part of the project at the beginning," he said. "And so I don't think it's unreasonable for the community to expect that a sidewalk will remain as it always has been, and as we were told it would be up until recently." At the legislature, Chiasson said his department is more than willing to "engage the community on transportation solutions," and he hopes to hold a public meeting in the community soon. But Trudelle and other residents say they aren't giving up on the sidewalk, and are gathering signatures in an online petition that they hope to present to the government before it's too late. "We're not going away," Trudelle said. "We're not going to be quiet."
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Miramichi residents demand sidewalks for refurbished Centennial Bridge
About 100 demonstrators gathered June 1, 2025 in Miramichi, N.B., calling for the provincial government to include sidewalks in a plan to refurbish the Centennial Bridge. (Nick Moore/CTV Atlantic) About 100 demonstrators gathered Sunday in Miramichi, N.B., calling for the provincial government to include sidewalks in a plan to refurbish the Centennial Bridge. Right now, there are sidewalks on both sides of the 58-year-old span connecting Douglastown and Chatham. In April, residents learned sidewalks were not included in the bridge's perpetually delayed rehabilitation plan, with the provincial government calling it a cost cutting measure. Demonstrators walked and wheeled a portion of the bridge's sidewalk on Sunday through wind and rain. Sadie Rose, an organizer of the demonstration, said residents don't accept the province's cost saving explanation. 'This is not over. Removing accessibility is not an option,' said Rose. 'Accessibility is important for seniors, for young people, for everybody in our community.' Centennial Bridge About 100 demonstrators gathered June 1, 2025 in Miramichi, N.B., calling for the provincial government to include sidewalks in a plan to refurbish the Centennial Bridge. (Nick Moore/CTV Atlantic) During question period in the legislature on Friday, Progressive Conservative Miramichi East MLA Michelle Conroy said removing sidewalks from the bridge's refurbishment plan would negatively impact the community. 'The people of Miramichi deserve the independence to safely walk across that bridge,' said Conroy. 'The lack of transportation is talked about in most of our departments, and all of our meetings, and instead of pushing to knock down those barriers, this government is knocking down people's independence.' In response, Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson said finishing the bridge's refurbishment as soon as possible was the government's top priority. 'That bridge needs to be finished, we need to complete the project,' said Chiasson. 'That being said, I would be more than willing to engage the community on transportation solutions for the community.' Chiasson said the previous PC government did not budget for sidewalks in the bridge's refurbishment plan. Conroy disagreed, saying: 'It needs to be in there, and it was in there, and we were in the meetings to prove it.' Miramichi Mayor Adam Lordon previously told CTV News there once was a plan for an extended suspension sidewalk off the bridge's side, at a cost of around $50 million. An estimated 13,000 vehicles cross the Centennial Bridge daily. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CBC
6 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Judge to rule later on Justin Bourque's alleged role in prison stabbing
Justin Bourque, who killed three Mounties in Moncton in 2014, stood trial over two days in Miramichi over an alleged 2022 prison stabbing. A judge is expected to issue a decision in September.
CBC
6 days ago
- General
- CBC
Judge to rule on Justin Bourque's alleged prison stabbing in September
A judge will rule in September whether Justin Bourque and another man are guilty of stabbing a third man with shanks in a prison three years ago. Bourque and Christian Clyke stood trial over two days in Miramichi provincial court on two charges alleging they had shanks, or homemade weapons, and assaulted Chase Spence at the Atlantic Institution on May 3, 2022. Bourque is serving life sentences at the maximum security prison southwest of Miramichi for the 2014 murders of three RCMP officers in Moncton. Bourque's lawyer Simon Wood gave a closing argument Thursday afternoon saying the Crown had failed to prove the allegations against the 35-year-old. Bourque offered no defence evidence and opted not to testify. Clyke, who doesn't have a lawyer, took the stand to testify and argued he acted in self-defence when he stabbed Spence because Spence had sent a note the day before threatening violence, and attacked Bourque first. Crown prosecutor Jean-Guy Savoie argued self-defence wouldn't apply even if Spence started the fight, saying it became a two-on-one attack with Spence trying to run and continued after he fell to the floor. After hearing the testimony from six Crown witnesses and Clyke himself, Judge Johanne-Marguerite Landry said she would need more time to consider her verdict. Landry is scheduled to give her decision on Sept. 10. The trial began Wednesday and much of the two-day trial focused on surveillance video that captured most of the events. It showed Chase Spence entering the prison unit with Bourque and Clyke around 1:30 p.m. Spence walked down a hall with cell doors as Bourque followed him. There appeared to be words exchanged, though the video had no audio, and Spence appeared to punch at Bourque's neck followed by Bourque pulling out a shank. Clyke said he wanted to testify about what transpired, telling the judge he acted in self-defence. Clyke told the judge that the day before, a note known as a "kite" was passed through a prison door from another unit that he was told had been sent by Spence. Clyke testified the note said he was moving to the unit with Clyke and Bourque, and that he would "take a run at," or attack, the first person he encountered. Clyke testified he passed the note around the unit after receiving it. He said he watched Spence walk down the hall and then attack Bourque before turning and running toward Clyke and other inmates. "As me and him got closer, he sliced at my arm and ran, and that's when I chased him," Clyke testified. Clyke testified he was cut or stabbed four times. He testified he chased Spence to stop his "spree" in the unit, but that he was also trying to take a weapon from him. "I wasn't stabbing at him the whole time," Clyke said. Testimony, video conflict Under cross-examination by Savoie, Clyke's version of events shifted and he couldn't be certain who caused his injuries. Savoie repeatedly played the video, noting Clyke could not have seen the initial interaction between Spence and Bourque because Clyke was around a corner. The questioning also probed the existence of the kite note. Savoie asked who was aware of its contents and why it wasn't reported to prison officials. Clyke then said he was only told by the inmate who received the note through a door who sent it, but couldn't remember the name of the inmate who got the note. He said it wasn't reported because of unwritten prison rules against snitching. Clyke said he didn't keep the note, but had passed it along to other inmates. "We just have your word for it?" Savoie asked about the note. "Pretty much," Clyke said. Bourque's lawyer briefly cross-examined Clyke, asking if he saw Bourque stab Spence while on the floor. "No," Clyke said. The trial has heard that Spence was stabbed several times. Medical records were entered as evidence, which Savoie told the judge show Spence had various minor wounds and one stab wound that penetrated his chest wall. Spence didn't testify in the trial. An RCMP officer testified that neither Spence nor the two accused provided statements to police. While the events at the centre of the trial occurred in May 2022, the charges were only laid in November 2023. Bourque is serving life sentences for fatally shooting RCMP constables Dave Ross, Fabrice Gevaudan and Douglas Larche and wounding constables Darlene Goguen and Eric Dubois in Moncton on June 4, 2014. In 2016, he called police and confessed to the killing. He was sentenced in 2019.
