http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/10/07/nb-f-fredericton-moncton-highway-231.html
It brings up the issue of forgotten communities although does not delve too deep as the main purpose of the article is to allude to the $10 billion debt NB has accumulated. Here is a portion of the article specifically talking about the effect the new highway had on communities.
Future of communities
It was feared that the highway, which was intended to keep drivers along one of the province’s most heavily-used corridors safe, would also push some communities to the brink of financial ruin.
Communities and many small businesses that had cropped up along the side of the Trans-Canada Highway over the decades and profited off the non-stop stream of traffic from transport trucks, tourists and commuters.
Sussex was one of the communities that feared the worst when the highway debate was raging in the 1990s.
Emily Palmer, a former mayor of Sussex, said in a 1996 interview that the number of visitors in places like Sussex, Coles Island, Youngs Cove and Cambridge Narrows would be slashed.
Palmer said in a recent interview that her predictions have become reality and that minimal traffic is making it off the highway and into these smaller communities.
“Everything is bypassing us,” Palmer said.
“So we’ve seen a lot of small businesses that have closed, a few have opened but a number of them haven’t stayed.”
Sussex is now 35 kilometres south of the highway.
Several businesses and towns chipped in to build a tourist centre just off the highway in 2003. The idea is to direct tourists who make a quick trip off the highway to take a longer detour to some of the communities and attractions that are along the old highway.
The tourism centre mentioned in the article is a mock covered bridge at exit 365 (Sussex, Youngs Cove, Chipman). Although I have often driven by it, both on the highway and the road to Sussex, I have never stopped. I find it often appears to be closed, but it might be worth a second look.
Future of communities
It was feared that the highway, which was intended to keep drivers along one of the province’s most heavily-used corridors safe, would also push some communities to the brink of financial ruin.Communities and many small businesses that had cropped up along the side of the Trans-Canada Highway over the decades and profited off the non-stop stream of traffic from transport trucks, tourists and commuters.
Sussex was one of the communities that feared the worst when the highway debate was raging in the 1990s.
Emily Palmer, a former mayor of Sussex, said in a 1996 interview that the number of visitors in places like Sussex, Coles Island, Youngs Cove and Cambridge Narrows would be slashed.
Palmer said in a recent interview that her predictions have become reality and that minimal traffic is making it off the highway and into these smaller communities.
“Everything is bypassing us,” Palmer said.
“So we’ve seen a lot of small businesses that have closed, a few have opened but a number of them haven’t stayed.”
Sussex is now 35 kilometres south of the highway.
Several businesses and towns chipped in to build a tourist centre just off the highway in 2003. The idea is to direct tourists who make a quick trip off the highway to take a longer detour to some of the communities and attractions that are along the old highway.
