UPDATED: Bike Lanes, Road Diet Proposed For Heather Way

A staff recommendation proposing changes to a busy four-lane street in east Saint John has been postponed.

Council was set to consider a recommendation Monday night to add bike lanes to Heather Way as part of a resurfacing project.

But at the start of the meeting, staff requested that the matter be “deferred to a later meeting.” No reasons for the deferral were given.

Under the proposal that was to be considered, one lane in each direction would have been designated a “buffered bike lane,” turning the street into a two-lane road.

“The addition of buffered bike lanes can enable active transportation along this route at a very modest cost,” said a staff report that was to be presented to council.

“Consolidation of vehicle traffic from two lanes to one in each direction may offer some measure of traffic calming along this route while still accommodating the current levels of traffic.”

Safety along Heather Way has been a concern for residents and the city after a pedestrian was fatally struck in the fall of 2008.

The city developed a traffic calming strategy the following year which included speed humps along the southbound side of the street and reducing the speed limit from 60 km/h to 50 km/h.

There were also discussions about closing one side of Heather Way and converting the other side to a two-lane road, but that has never been implemented.

Asphalt resurfacing scheduled for Heather Way last year was postponed after questions from councillors about the need for four lanes and options for active transportation.

Five community members participated in a virtual community meeting last June and 23 others provided feedback through email.

While there was no “general consensus” on what, if any, changes should be made, a number of suggestions were put forward by staff and community members.

Among them was closing one side of Heather Way to vehicle traffic and using it solely for active transportation.

Staff said they considered turning one side of the road into a “linear park” by removing the existing asphalt and road base and adding topsoil, sod, landscaping, additional trees, and a multi-use asphalt path for pedestrians and cyclists.

“Staff have ruled out the option of creating a linear park because it does not fit with the direction of PlaySJ [the city’s parks and recreation plan] and does not make financial sense,” said the report.

It is estimated the linear park option would require a one-time investment of $1.3 million, along with ongoing costs for the care of the green space and landscaping.

Concerns were also raised during the community consultations about reducing space for vehicle traffic, but staff note that a two-lane road has “sufficient capacity” to offer a good level of service based on the measured traffic volumes.

The estimated cost for resurfacing all four lanes of Heather Way is $440,000, based on 2021 figures.