The federal and New Brunswick governments have announced funding to complete one of the province’s most iconic tourism destinations.
The Fundy Trail Parkway was first started in the 1990s and it has been expanded over the years but never completed.
Wednesday’s announcement of $22.8 million in funding from the federal and provincial governments means the trail will finally be completed.
“It will tie St. Martins to Alma and allow people to experience the whole Bay of Fundy,” says New Brunswick Premier David Alward. “With the dollars invested in 2010, along with the federal, provincial money, a total of almost $23 million announced here today, that will see the Fundy Trail completed from St. Martins to Alma, with the vistas, the parking areas, and walking trails all included.”
The trail gives visitors a 16-kilometre bird’s eye view of the Bay of Fundy coastline. Once the project is complete, the additional 14 kilometres will be accessible to the public. The Fundy Trail Authority is anticipating a completion date of spring 2018.
Park staff estimate there will be around 2,000 visitors to the trail annually once the work is complete.
“It’s infrastructure, it’s tourism, it’s recognition, it’s marketing, it means millions of job opportunities and revenue and the job building, that it’s going to participate in and put New Brunswick on the map as a tourism destination for sure,” says tourism operator Greta Lynn Drapeau.
“The Bay of Fundy sets us apart from something anyone else in the world has,” says New Brunswick Tourism Minister Trevor Holder. “Nobody will ever be able to compete with us for the highest tides in the world, that’s ours and ours alone and this allows us to take that project to the next level.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar
