Fredericton will see more work on Regent Street, a new roundabout and a three-way stop as part of its 2024 road construction.
The plan, presented at the April 16 Mobility Committee Meeting, emphasized a more convenient season than last year.
“We’re really working to spread the projects out throughout the city and throughout the timespan of this season,” Melissa Steeves, Fredericton’s assistant construction manager, said in an interview.
Morgan Peters, the CEO of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce, said last year had a lot of delays. He’s looking forward to better communication between service providers this year.
“A lot of the delays we heard last year were from some of those groups not being available at the time they expected, and that really affects all aspects of the project,” he said.
The city is planning around provincial construction on the Princess Margaret Bridge, one of two vehicle bridges in Fredericton that connect the north and south sides.
“We do know that project is going to cause disruptions to commuters. But we’ve moved some of our project dates, our start dates, around their construction,” Steeves said.
That includes delaying construction on Regent Street from George Street to Churchill Row, and finishing other work on Regent for next year.
“We’re doing it for safety measures, so we want to make sure that what we have on the book can be accomplished in the amount of time that we have to accomplish it,” she said.
Tyson Aubie, a transportation engineer with the City of Fredericton, said traffic on the Westmorland Street Bridge is a concern. He said the city is working to mitigate that with a signal timing plan.
“It is important to understand that that is a major link across the river, and it will have impacts,” he said.
Other city projects include a three-way stop on Northumberland Street, and a new Killarney Lake roundabout.
“It is a high-speed intersection, there have been a fair amount of severe collisions here as well,” Aubie said.