I awoke this morning in St. Andrews by the Sea, New Brunswick to a sound which has become quite familiar over the past few months and will likely remain for several more. I wish I could say it was the singing of birds or the sound of Bay of Fundy waves crashing in the distance (two sounds which I do often hear at my home).  Instead, it was the faint rumble of dynamite removing yet another vestige of the cliff face resisting the new divided Highway 1 as it pushes its way east and west across the province some five miles from my house.

Now don’t misunderstand, as a AAA inspector and ‘road warrior,' I’m all for new safer highways and certainly this one needed to be done. In the past few years too many people have lost their lives along this stretch of road as a result of (among other factors) the lack of a barrier between them and the oncoming traffic. So in this instance, a divided highway expansion was not only necessary but essential and for that reason I don’t mind the temporary disruption to the usual tranquility of the countryside where I live.

Given the time and opportunity, however I relish the chance to leave the safe but sterile superhighways for the secondary roads.  In most instances, these now-quiet country roads which have been divested of the multitudes of cars and large trucks which used to pass along them, quietly wend their way parallel to the larger highways and yet still get me to my destination in marginally more time.

Take for instance Route 105, which makes its way from Fredericton, New Brunswick and follows the Saint John River, continuing on to Sussex where it rejoins the Trans Canada Highway heading to Moncton, NB. This road runs parallel to the new highway for perhaps 80 Kilometers and adds at most 15 minutes to one's schedule. The beauty and tranquility of the route makes the additional time well worth it.

The river serpentines its way southeast and matches the leisurely pace of the surrounding countryside. Wide in some areas and narrower in others, I’ve had the pleasure of following its banks as it makes its way past farm fields, villages, and roadside vegetable stands. One’s foot just naturally depresses the accelerator pedal more gently here. If inclined, you can leave your car and walk the perimeter of an abandoned farm with the remains of century old apple orchards, stone foundations and tumbled barns sometimes barely visible beneath the profusion of wild rose and ivy. Many a pleasant sunny summer afternoon has been spent by a traveler on this quiet road.

On the western edge of the province, you again have the opportunity to leave the convenient uniformity of the Trans Canada for the beauty of its accompanying secondary road. Driving southeast from Perth Andover toward the province’s capital city Fredericton, the secondary roads, Routes 130 or 105 border the Saint John River and takes the driver by several of the province’s 63 covered bridges passing directly through Hartland New Brunswick with its famous covered bridge; the longest in the world. Standing in the middle of one of these bridges, one can almost hear the sound of Model T Fords as they made their way across at breakneck speeds of 25 miles per hour or more. Those who opt to stay on the Trans Canada Hwy 2 will have the convenience of arriving in Fredericton 15 minutes sooner (never a bad thing if a pint at a local pub is on the agenda) but will have missed a vital piece of the province’s history.

In my own area in southwest New Brunswick Hwy 1 bypassed the secondary roads many years ago (divided though it was not) and to drive it is to arrive in Saint John a half hour sooner than one did when my wife was a child growing up in this area. But to do so is to miss the opportunity to stray off the beaten path and enter the old New Brunswick of fishing ports, dories, and breathtaking ocean vistas. Travelling east from the US border of Calais, Maine one has multiple opportunities to make small side trips that wind along the coast. From Black’s Harbor to Back Bay one can venture into villages where life has not changed in truly significant ways for fifty years.

Here fishing weirs and lobster traps stacked neatly on lawns are a common sight. When young New Brunswickers almost inevitably “come home” from “away” this is the New Brunswick they have been longing for. With their vistas of the Bay of Fundy and their truly beautiful destinations the secondary roads to St. Andrews By-the-Sea, St. Martins and Alma best typify this experience.

So the next time I wake up to the rumble of yet another five feet of progress, I will be thankful that as a country we have the resources to try to keep our citizens safe on the roads. But the next time I have an extra few minutes in my travel day I will again opt to take the road less travelled.  

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