An iconic street in uptown Saint John may soon see an influx in foot traffic and a decrease in vehicular traffic.
Saint John is considering restricting Prince William Street to pedestrian traffic only. Councillor John MacKenzie says the idea has been floated before, but now it could become a reality.
“It’s one of those things, if you don’t have a few pedestrian streets you’re behind the times, and I think Saint John is in a position now where we just need to decide where the best places are to do it and how often,” says MacKenzie.
Anne McShane is part of the uptown Saint John group making the presentation to council. She says they’re just in the beginning stages of development.
“It’s a pilot just to build some activity, to see what opportunities exist,” says McShane. “Can it work? Will it work? And that will help inform any future decision that happens.”
But Sherry Brown, who owns a cake shop on Prince William Street, says turning Prince William into a pedestrian-only street would hurt her business.
“When this was brought to my attention, I immediately shook,” says Brown. “I’m like, ‘no this is not going to happen,’ because with my business, it definitely wouldn’t work, because I have customers that come here for large orders, or I have custom cake orders and that’s the majority of my business right now.”
Reaction to the idea was mixed on the streets of Saint John.
“I couldn’t see this becoming a pedestrian street, that’d be insane,” says resident Ken Elward.
“Cut it off in the summer months, I think it’d be fantastic for the restaurants and tourists,” says resident John Gaudet.
The proposal will be brought up Monday night at the city council meeting. If councillors vote in favour of the idea, the street will be made available to pedestrians only from time to time.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ashley Dunbar
