$1 million donation for pedway withdrawn over lack of progress
An anonymous person who had pledged $1 million towards building a pedestrian bridge across the Trans Canada highway has withdrawn the funding promise in the wake of what a local volunteer calls a lack of action from the town of Tantramar. The citizens group that had been proponents of the project have also resigned.
Retired doctor Ross Thomas was one of those working on the pedway project on and off for fifteen years. He first presented the news of the potential $1 million donation to Sackville town council in December 2021.
Thomas says he doesn’t know the identity of the potential donor, but knows they first started expressing concerns about the future of the project about six months ago, shortly after Tantramar Pedway Group members Christina DeHaas and Jeff MacKinnon presented to the new Tantramar council in June 2023.
DeHaas and McKinnon requested that the new council commit to pursuing further capital funding for the project, and enter into an agreement with the province’s Department of Natural Resources to take over control of the Trans Canada Trail within town of Tantramar boundaries. DeHaas urged council to take swift action to make use of the $1 million donation, because “the window of opportunity is running out,” she said at the time.… Continue
‘It would be a game-changer’: meeting Tuesday to discuss possibilities for Trans Canada Trail, including pedway connection across highway
Hear this story on Tantramar Report:
It’s been called a ‘never-say-die’ project: a proposal for a pedestrian connection across the divided Trans Canada Highway where it bisects the Trans Canada Trail at the edge of the Sackville Waterfowl Park. The disconnect in the trail and the possible fix for it will be the topic of conversation in Sackville next week, at a meeting featuring trails coordinator for Plan 360, Marc Léger, and a group of citizens working on advancing the pedway project.
On Tuesday, December 6th, from 7pm to 9pm, Léger is inviting all possible stakeholders, including local business owners and current or would-be trail users, to the Sackville Visitor Information Centre to share and discuss ideas.
Léger works in connecting communities via greenway trails, by providing support to community groups and consulting with municipalities. He’s currently working on a 40 km trail connecting Moncton to Parlee Beach, which itself is part of the much larger Shoreline Trail, running from Alma to Shediac.
Léger says he sees lots of potential in the 66-kilometre segment of the Transcanada Trail between Sackville and Cape Tormentine.
“It goes through some really beautiful countryside,” says Léger, citing the Tintamarre National Wildlife Area. “It connects to several communities. It’s the perfect distance for cycle tourism. That 66 kilometers is a really nice sweet spot in terms of what the average cyclist might do in a day, both novice and more advanced cyclists.… Continue