Partridge Island tourism feasibility study now underway

A long-awaited study that willdetermine the future of Saint John's Partridge Islandis now underway and expected to be completed by the end of July, officials saidon Thursday.

Last year, the federal government set aside $200,000 in the budget for a feasibilitystudy on whether the island couldbe opened to tourists.

DillonConsulting and W.FBaird& Associates Coastal Engineering Ltd., have sincebeen awarded the contract, Saint John MP Rodney Weston announced on behalf of ACOA Minister Rob Moore.

The companies will look at access to the island and estimate the cost of repairing the breakwater and establishing a walkway that connects the island to the mainland, he said.

They will also estimate the annual operation and maintenance costs to providing public access to the island.

Hydrographic survey done

A hydrographic survey was already conductedon Wednesday, in partnership with the port, said Darcy Harris, a partner at Dillon Consulting.

The physical assessment of the breakwater will startnext week, he said.

"The third process is we'll actually be flying a drone over the breakwater to kind of get a 3D analysis of its configuration. So that all leads into the data collection,which would then move into building a model," said Harris.

"Once we have the physical background for the model, we would then run scenarios to understand wave analysis, what types of forces are going to be acting on the breakwater, how high the wave heights could potentially be.

"At that point we will understand what the limitations are of the breakwater and at thatpoint we can kind of move forward with optionson either improving and building on to the breakwater, or reconfiguring it into an access route."

Access is going to give people a real appreciation of the history of that siteand give you an idea of what immigrants would have seen after they arrived here throughout the19thand the early20thcenturies.- Gary Hughes, New Brunswick Museum

If the study comes up with a feasible option, the next step would be working with the three levels of government to secure funding for the design phase and construction, he said.

New Brunswick Museum history and technology curator Gary Hughes hopes the study will see the national historic siteopened to visitors.

"That access is going to give people a real appreciation of the history of that site and give you an idea of what immigrants would have seen after they arrived here throughout the 19th and the early 20th centuries," he said, referring to Partridge Islandbeing established as a quarantine stationin 1830.

Up to 2,500 people were quarantined there with small pox and typhus fever during the peak of the Irish immigration. Over the pasttwo centuries, the island has also served as a military post forsoldiers and home to lighthouse keepers.

Access to the island has been prohibited for decades, but city officials have talked about opening it back up for years.

In 2005, SaintJohn Waterfront Development put together designs of what the island could look like.