Sackville gets noticed for its walkability among Maritime small towns
A car-free lifestyle might not be what most people associate with small town living, but car-free Moncton resident Charles MacDougall crunched the numbers this spring to come up with a list of seven Maritime towns where significant numbers of residents walk or bike to get around.
Sackville is number 4 on MacDougall’s list, clocking in with 20.8% of residents walking or biking to work regularly. That may be impressive for a small town, but it’s nowhere near the number for Annapolis Royal, which according to MacDougall’s analysis, has 38.1% of residents walking or biking to work regularly.
To get his numbers, MacDougall used data from Canada’s 2021 long form census, which asks a quarter of Canadians to answer questions on a variety of topics, including their transportation habits. MacDougall pulled the numbers and averaged rates between population centres and actual municipal boundaries of small towns. Then he published his list, along with his thoughts, in a thread on Twitter/X.
Here’s MacDougall’s list of the towns where more than 15% of residents say they mainly walk or bike to work:
- Annapolis Royal (38,1%) – Iconic. Lots to admire and (re)discover on foot. Many attractions, services and even grocery options for a town its size.
- Saint-Andrews (23,3%) – Very classic and walkable grid layout with a strong Main St (although too touristy for my liking, doesn’t feel as practical). There’s an incredible resort and a small college campus in walking distance from the centre of town.
Sackville’s scramble crosswalks used so long they’re back in style
While both of Sackville’s intersections with traffic lights feature scramble crosswalks, in most other parts of the country, they aren’t as common.
“I know that they’re in Toronto, Vancouver, a lot of the larger municipalities have at least one,” says Steven Oliver, Stantec senior planner and smarter mobility Practice Lead for Canada.
Oliver says if you Google-search a scramble crosswalk, you’ll find images of massive intersections with hordes of people crossing.
Sackville has neither a massive amount of traffic nor pedestrians, but, according to Michelle Sherwood, Superintendent of Public Works with Tantramar, we do have the right ratio of vehicles to people to warrant the scramble crossing.
“We typically have through the school year more pedestrians than we do traffic in a small town because a lot of students are walkers” she says. “So in the case of having more pedestrians, a lot of time the scramble crosswalks are implemented because it’s a whole lot safer.”
Though, that wasn’t necessarily the reason they were or are still used in Sackville. Sherwood has worked for the municipality for nearly 30 years. When she started, the traffic lights used to be mechanical, complete with cogs and people could cross in any direction.
“We changed (the downtown traffic lights) back in the 90s, late 90s. And the town was so used to a scrambled walk that council and management of the day decided it was best put it back, for safety,” says Sherwood.… Continue
$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
‘A good living if somebody wants to do it’: Sackville Cab up for sale
Sackville Cab is up for sale.
Owner Larry Parsons says he put the business up for sale a few weeks ago because he’s hoping to retire this summer, but he says its been a good business for the last 25 years. “I don’t want to sell,” says Parsons. “I’m 65 and I’m tired…. Your body can only handle so much.”
The business is listed online for $140,000, and Parsons says he is represented by Sackville realtor Grace Nelson.
Right now the business employs five drivers and Parsons says if he can’t find a buyer he will be scaling back to about 40% of his current workload. The business includes four to five cars, radios, the Sackville cab phone number, and a number of regular contracts that provide a steady income for the business.
The contracts include school runs to Cap Pelé and Rockport, a daily work commuter, and transportation for Mount Allison, the hospital, and Ambulance NB. “We have four cars going most the time,” says Parsons. “I just don’t know what everybody’s gonna do.”
Many of Parsons’s customers don’t drive or have access to a vehicle. One customer jokingly told him she hopes she’s passed on before he manages to sell.
Costs have gone up over the years, says Parsons, but the business is still viable. “In the last five years, everything’s doubled,” he says. “It’s still a living, and still good living if somebody wants to do it.”… Continue
‘Streets are for everyone’: new Active Transportation group aims to improve safety, create AT plan for Tantramar
Austin Trenholme bikes to and from work on the regular in Sackville, using York Street as a main route. But after a couple of close calls with vehicles, the lifelong cyclist decided some changes are needed. “I’ll be quite frank with you,” says Trenholme, “I don’t feel 100% comfortable biking on York Street as it is right now.”
Trenholme decided to form the Active Transportation Safety Committee of Tantramar, a group dedicated to making Tantramar safer for people walking, biking, or rolling. “There’s not really any group of people that I’m aware of that is advocating for the safety of active transportation users,” says Trenholme, and so he’s put out the call to recruit others interested in the same goal.
Originally from Summerside, Trenholm says active transportation advocacy runs in his family. His father Ken Trenholme is a spokesperson for SAFE Summerside, a group that recently presented an All Ages and Abilities Active Transportation Network Plan to Summerside’s city council. “In a way, through what he’s doing,” says Trenholme, “it made me realize streets are for everyone. So that’s the thing that I’m pushing for now.” Trenholme says he hopes the group will eventually create an Active Transportation (AT) plan for Tantramar.
While neighbouring Amherst passed its first AT Plan in 2018, Sackville did not have one on the books when it was amalgamated into Tantramar this year.… Continue
Collision victim in critical condition; plus response time details and Sackville ER protocols
The young man hit by a driver on Sunday evening while crossing Main Street is in critical condition in a Halifax hospital, according to an update to Mount Allison students sent Wednesday by university president Jean Paul Boudreau.
Boudreau said the university had “received an update from the student’s family, which they have also made public. We understand that the student is in critical condition in a Halifax hospital. The family has asked for privacy at this time, and we invite you to join us in respecting their wishes.”
RCMP Sergeant Eric Hanson said the investigation is ongoing and no charges have been laid yet.
Emergency response time concerns
There were two 911 calls from the Sackville area on Sunday night, both with very different response times, according to a spokesperson from Medavie Health Services New Brunswick, the company that operates Ambulance NB.
In an emailed statement to CHMA, Eric Robichaud says the first call came in at 7:47pm, before the Main Street collision, and paramedics arrived at that scene nine minutes later, at 7:56pm.
According to witnesses, that was right around the time the young man crossing Main Street in a marked crosswalk with lights flashing was struck by a driver who failed to yield at the crossing. Robichaud says the second call, which fits the timeline of the pedestrian collision, was received at 8:01pm, and paramedics arrived at that scene 27 minutes later at 8:28pm.… Continue
Make Buses Functional Again: project looking for input to revive intercity motorcoach services in Canada
A national advocacy group for public transport wants to bring intercity buses back to life in Canada, and they are reaching out to passengers and travellers across the country to help gather their views and experiences.
CHMA spoke with Transport Action Canada president Terry Johnson to find out more:
“About 40% of the population does not drive,” says Johnson. “That includes seniors, all our kids, a lot of people who have often quite minor disabilities… It prevents people from fully participating in society, or means they’re reliant on somebody else.”
Transport Action Canada is quite likely the country’s longest-lived advocacy group for public transportation. This year, they have taken on a research project aimed at policy options that could return intercity bus connectivity, functionality, and just plain old service to towns and communities across Canada.
Part of the research is the Canada-wide Motorcoach Travel Survey: a five minute questionnaire for anyone with thoughts, experiences and aspirations to share on the future of Canada’s intercity bus network.
“There’s an awful lot of social and economic opportunity that just goes down the drain when you have a totally car dependent society,” says Johnson. ”Not to mention all the pollution impacts, and all the costs. The physics of individual cars are really very bad. And they don’t even get much better when it’s an electric car.”
Transport Action favours public transport options because, “if you have a lot of people sharing a vehicle, not only can you massively improve the economics, you can include everybody,” says Johnson.… Continue
‘It’s just about getting back out there’: Barnyard Bicycles is back with first alley-cat race of the summer this Sunday
This Sunday, people will be hopping on their bikes to take part in Sackville’s first alley cat race of the season. CHMA stopped by Barnyard Bicycles on Lorne Street to hear about the plans for the race from owner and cyclist Tobias Paul.
An alley-cat race is not your typical speed-centred race, explains Paul. “It’ll be kind of a scavenger hunt style. All participants will receive a sealed envelope with a handful of destinations around town. And then they as riders will choose the most efficient route to get to all of these places. There are people who are going to be more concerned about speed. But it’s also just about having fun.”
Paul says this is the first of a series of races that will happen the third Sunday of each month for the biking season. All races will begin at Barnyard Bicycles and end at Bagtown Brewing. There’s a $5 entry fee and prizes in a variety of categories. The races will have different themes as the summer unfolds, he says, with the first being “rust to road”, in honour of all the people who haven’t ridden their bikes in months, he says. “It’s just about getting back out there, remembering how much fun it is to ride around town, and finding new routes to get around town so that you can be biking throughout the summer season,” says Paul.… Continue