And away we go....as someone who has to use this bridge to get to work, I'm thrilled. :p
Hurry up and wait; Regent repairs begin Monday
By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
mclaughlin.heather@dailygleaner.com
Published Saturday June 23rd, 2007
Appeared on page A1
Circle Monday on your calendar because it's the beginning of four weeks of traffic misery.
New Brunswick's Department of Transportation is repairing and resurfacing the bridge deck of the Regent Street overpass. It's not a big-ticket project at $110,000 but the nature of Regent Street could turn the routine job into a traffic nightmare.
Department of Transportation District 5 engineer Norman Clouston said there's no question there will be traffic delays and snarls.
About 18,000 vehicles per day travel from Fredericton Junction, Nasonworth, Beaverdam, Charters Settlement and New Maryland into Fredericton via Regent Street.
The already congested two-lane, spaghetti-strip Highway 101 will be narrowed to two lanes, one in and one out of Fredericton.
Department of Transportation crews will begin working on the two inside lanes first, complete those repairs and then do the two outside lanes, Clouston told the city's transportation committee at a briefing Thursday.
On Monday, work will be delayed until 9 a.m. to provide a bit of adjustment for local drivers, but Tuesday morning, work crews will be on the job from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., working 12 hour days Monday to Friday and eight hours Saturday starting between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.
Southbound traffic will have to squeeze into a single lane near the Prospect Street Irving service station. Northbound traffic will be diverted into a single lane 140 metres back from the Regent Mall main entrance.
Two police officers will be assigned with traffic detail weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Apart from traffic direction, they'll be available to try to guide emergency vehicles through the construction area at the worst moments of traffic congestion.
If motorists can flex their work hours, carpool, alter their travel times or limit the number of trips they, it will help, Clouston said.
"Allow more time to get to where you're going. Be prepared," Clouston said.
Coun. David Kelly asked why police won't be assigned Saturdays -- a busy shopping day. Tourist traffic is also picking up, he said.
Clouston said the traffic situation will be monitored and the department will be flexible if it spots problems.