Seeing the Big Picture
PHOTO ESSAY: Canada's 'transformative' national trade corridor is right around the corner – literally – for people who live near the railways and roadways driving industrial development in Saint John
Hidden behind vaguely encouraging phrases about ‘exciting opportunities’, ‘key roles’ and ‘transportation bottlenecks’ is a simple fact: the last few kilometres of Canada’s ‘transformative’ national trade corridor run through a lot of towns and neighbourhoods en route to Port Saint John.
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s intention to quickly invest in building out significant East-West transportation infrastructure – be it roads, rails or pipelines – is great news for New Brunswick’s economy, currently battening down against American economic aggression.
While a plurality of Canadians just voted in favour of that plan, I suspect a lot don’t understand what that means at street level, particularly in Saint John, where industry and residents cohabitate in sometimes close quarters.
To help wrap our heads around Canada’s imminent industrialization push, Side Walks’ photo editor Michael Hawkins took his drone out for a ride through West Saint John for our first photo essay.
Michael’s six wide-angle aerial photos ask us to consider this fundamental question: How will our national ambitions translate into local realities?
This is the starting point for a conversation about New Brunswick’s role in Canada’s national trade corridor and how the era of change we voted for comes home.
A viewing note: We recommend, for best results, view Michael’s photos on a tablet, laptop or desktop. We also recommend pulling up your favourite digital map website to help orient you.
Starting from the West, Canada’s National Trade Corridor Follows the St. John River into Saint John
We begin at J.D. Irving Limited’s (JDI) Logistics Park, an intermodal terminal for moving goods between trains and trucks using NB Southern’s short-track rail line, which crosses Simms Corner en route to Port Saint John.
Bordering South Bay is the Bald Mountain Rock Quarry, which JDI intends to convert into a new wood chip production facility to feed its new turbine and green energy generator, the centrepiece of its $1B Next Gen project at Irving Pulp and Paper, located about three kilometres south, at Simms Corner.
Randolph Island, a small residential enclave, sits behind the quarry, connected by road to the western edge of Milford, which is home to Dominion Park, a municipal park and beach, facing out into the St. John River.
The water between the quarry and the far left side of the photo is South Bay. The houses that dot the far side of South Bay are located off Westfield Road.
Following the riverbank past the rail lines you’ll see riverfront properties in the neighbourhoods of South Bay, Acamac (directly across from Randolph Island), Ketepec, Belmont, Morna Heights, and along the horizon line, the town of Grand Bay-Westfield.