A New Brunswick fire chief is calling for calm among motorists who will soon face traffic headaches caused by the construction of a new bridge that will replace the Petitcodiac causeway.
“There will be people who have a little bit of road rage, but they need to be calm and respectful to each other,” said Riverview Fire Chief Denis Pleau.
Preliminary work on the more than $60-million construction project started on Monday despite the rainfall. Work crews were laying out cable to install signs for a detour that will soon see the four-lane causeway reduced down to two lanes.
The paved detour begins on the causeway structure, according to an email statement from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI), and continues towards Moncton and is located on the downstream side of the existing structure. It will be approximately 850 metres in length.
READ MORE: Timeline: New Brunswick’s Petitcodiac River
Pleau said he’s preparing for traffic issues and he’s asking motorists to be patient and leave themselves more time to get to and from work once the detour is in place.
“Impatience leads to accidents.”
Pleau is already preparing for a major increase in the amount of traffic traveling across the Gunningsville Bridge over the span of the four-year construction project, which is currently in its third phase.
“We are asking people to be respectful of the lights and sirens, not just for the fire department, but for the ambulance and the police as well,” he said.
He is also depending on a long-standing relationship with the Moncton Fire Department in responding to a potential increase in accidents on the bridge and the causeway that he said could occur.
“If we can’t get to it from our side, Moncton should be able to get to it from their side.”
READ MORE: Petitcodiac gets new riverkeeper focused on replacing causeway and reducing waste
Meghan Walsh with the Town of Riverview said motorists should plan to leave extra time for travelling between Riverview and Moncton, especially when traffic volumes peak in the morning and early evening.
“Working together to reduce the number of vehicles on the road will have a positive impact on the traffic congestion in both communities. Consider alternatives such as biking, carpooling and using public transit,” she said.
Walsh said Riverview is working with the province to find solutions for alleviating traffic congestion during the four-year construction period of the new bridge.
Christine McLauchlan with the Petitcodiac Watershed Alliance said she realizes that replacing the causeway with a bridge will be costly, but said the project is the only way to restore the river to its natural flow. She believes the end result will be worth it.
“We are making it so that this could potentially become a recreational river and the tidal bore will only grow and that will help for economic opportunity as well,” she explained.
With more recreation expected along the river in the coming years, water rescues are also likely to increase, Pleau said, so “we have asked the province for support for a boat ramp on the new bridge.”
Jeff Hull with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) said they are consulting with the Department of Public Safety on that request.
Hull said in a statement sent to Global News that the first of four tenders would start this spring involving re-alignment of a drainage channel. Then a detour would be constructed over the next six to eight weeks before it’s opened to traffic. From there, the work area for the bridge will be isolated for work on the footings and substructure, which will continue until its completion date of July 31, 2018.
The detour approaching Riverview will be two lanes with an additional lane at the gate structure to allow for exiting towards Coverdale Road. Those approaching Moncton from Riverview will be met with two lanes at the gate structure until the end of the detour. It will then transition to an additional existing lane and continue into Moncton’s traffic circle.
The detour will remain in place until 2020.
READ MORE: Petitcodiac River to get new bridge, create free flow for fish, surfers
In the meantime, Pleau said his biggest safety concern is not on water, but on wheels.
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