Construction has already begun on Charlotte Street.
It’s part of work to the water and sewer system, according to Jill DeMerchant, a traffic engineer with the City of Saint John.
The project is funded through a bilateral agreement and gives the city the opportunity.
“That allows us to go in and helps pay for that storm sewer installation,” she said in an interview on Monday. “Whenever we do reconstruction of the underground services of the street that provides us an opportunity at the street level.”
This work will include King Street and the area around iconic Kings Square.
It will entail road repair and reconstruction, installation of new curbs, sidewalks, brick medians, street lighting and underground power and communications.
DeMerchant said there will also be a bike lane added and lights to accommodate them into the traffic.
The lights at the top of King Street will also be replaced by a stop sign, something the city looked closely at.
“We did some traffic analysis, a lot of modelling, and we determined that the singles kind of making things worse at that intersection so putting a stop sign there, will help the flows of all modes of transportation,” she said.
The intersection of Broad and Charlotte streets will also be closed from June 17 to June 19. The city said in an advisory a detour route will be marked and advanced signage of intersection closure will be provided.
The remainder of the project, including the work on King Street South and Princess Street, will last about 45 days.
Uptown Saint John said it feels the city communicated well with businesses ahead of the work, in what is, a very busy construction season uptown.
“I feel like they’ve got it under control,” said Nancy Tissington, Uptown Saint John’s executive director. “They’ve actually put up all the announcements ahead of time. Of course there is going to be some inconvenience at some point in time for those businesses in the area.”
Others are excited to see the final product.
“I think it’s great, finally the uptown area is … looking better,” said resident Jason Collrin. He uses a walker following surgery and said the city is fairly accessible, but looks forward to any improvements.
“I find myself walking around looking for places to walk around the construction right now, so when it is all down, I’m looking forward to more walks around Kings Square,” said fellow resident Sheila Hebert.
DeMerchant said while construction is challenging for everyone, the contractor has been asked to keep the area as accessible as possible, especially for pedestrians.
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