West Saint John family asks for Reversing Falls Bridge fix – New Brunswick | The Canadian News

It’s been more than two months since a pickup truck collided with a guardrail on Reversing Falls Bridge in Saint John.

A Grade 12 pupil at Harbor View High School said a temporary solution made it dangerous for him to walk home from school.

Marlon Wilson crosses the bridge to return to his home on the city’s lower west side, but he said cement barriers on the bridge are blocking the sidewalk.

“So usually what I end up doing is just going around it,” he said. “But because of (the barriers) I have to deal with traffic and I can, I do not know, I could possibly be hit or something.”

On November 29, 2021, a pickup truck crashed into the guardrail and pushed a portion of it away from the edge of the bridge, leaving no protection between the sidewalk and the Saint John River below.

Concrete barriers were installed to cover the damaged part of the bridge. They extend near the edge of the street. They are just a few meters from a previous accident and repairs on the same guardrail.

Wilson’s father, Bryan, said he now drives to school with his son most days.

“It breaks my heart,” Bryan Wilson said. “As a parent, what I want to do is to be able to give my son those safe, composite experiences for independence. But at the same time, there is a level of risk to which I am really not safe to expose him, and that is one of them. ”

Reversing Falls Bridge is one of only two ways people can get to and from the west side of Saint John, but it is actually part of a provincial highway system.

Nick Cameron, the government liaison for Saint John Cycling, notes that Reversing Falls is also the only way for pedestrians and cyclists to go back and forth.

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He said all that traffic is being jeopardized with one of the two sidewalks effectively closed due to the temporary barriers.

“Now, if you had no reason to cross (Chesley Drive) originally, you are now forced to do so if you come from that direction,” Cameron said. “There is no safe way to do it in this area.”

The nearest marked crossroads on either side of the bridge are each several hundred meters away.

A corridor under the bridge is fenced and closed on both sides and is for maintenance only, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure previously told Global News.

“DTI is quoted as saying there are certain safety issues,” Bryan Wilson said. “Let’s get them right. And if they can not fix it, let’s fix it. ”

The Wilsons and Cameron are appealing to the government to make the necessary repairs to the damage caused by the crash. Cameron said he would like to see more upgrades to the bridge, including the installation of suicide barriers.

Transportation and Infrastructure Communications Manager Mark Taylor could not give a definite date for when repairs would begin, but indicated it would not be long.

“We have the barrier in place, of course, and we’re preparing for that job,” Taylor said. “And we look forward to completing the repairs to that section of the railing on the bridge, very, very soon.”

Jessica Hanlon, director of communications for Anglophone School District South, said in a statement to Global News that Marlon Wilson and other students could take a school bus instead of walking.

“Harbor View High School students on the west side of the bridge would all be in a bus area and assigned to a bus to get to and from school,” Hanlon said. “Students may choose to cross the bridge on foot, but this will be their own personal choice, and given the safety issues identified, not the preference or recommendation of ASD-S.”

Marlon Wilson said he would “probably not” take the bus, but rather get his dad to drive and pick him up.

“But it also does not solve the problem that I also want to go hiking,” Marlon Wilson said. “(A bus is) just a transport vehicle and I enjoy my hikes, so I do not want it to go away.”