Feds give City of Fredericton $2.3M to help pay for improved trails, building upgrades

The City of Fredericton is getting federal help to pay for upgrades it's making to sidewalks, trails, a walking bridge and municipal buildings.

At a news conference at Fredericton city hall on Thursday, Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin announced the government will be giving the city $2.3 million to go toward16 infrastructure projects throughout the city as part of Ottawa's Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.

The projects include some that have already been begun or even completed, such as the replacement of the wooden decking on the 104th Regiment foot bridge linking Carleton Street to the riverfront trail, and others that are still to be done, such as improvements to active transportation trails and street crossings.

"The improvements will provide new opportunities for residents to be active and help the city continue to offer important services to the community," Atwin said.

"Proactive investments like this one … will extend the lifespan of buildings and infrastructure and provide employment for residents in New Brunswick."

The City of Fredericton, meanwhile, will spend about $588,000 on the 16 projects, which also include upgrading arena ice plants, parking garage repairs, emerald ash borer mitigation, upgrades to the Fredericton indoor pool, converting existing sports courts into pickle ball courts, baseball field upgrades and police station renovations.

"This funding allowed us to execute on some planned annual capital improvements during a very uncertain time," Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers said at the news conference.

"They were important capital improvements that we needed to be able to act on and we would not have been able to during these uncertain times without this kind of support."

The city had to grapple last year with a budget shortfall of $3.1 million for 2021, with $2 million of that related to the COVID-19 pandemic and $1.1 million because of orising operating costs.

Some capital projects, such as the Officers' Square renovation and city hall retrofit, which were initially going to be postponed, were able to proceed thanks to $3.18 million the city received in federal safe restart money.

The spending announcement was one of a handful made for communities in New Brunswick on Thursday, including $6.2 million for a recreation centre in Hampton, and $6.6 million for projects in Oromocto, Gagetown, McAdam, Debec and Petitcodiac.

It also followed several other announcements made for federal investments in things like the Fredericton International Airport, as well as a study into abortion access in New Brunswick.