The City of Fredericton has released its slate of construction projects for the summer of 2019 construction projects and they include major road improvement projects that will likely cause delays for commuters and travellers.
The city is warning motorists that the two largest projects — located at Smythe Street and King Street respectively — won’t be done until late fall.
Water and sanitary sewer mains are slated to be replaced near Smythe Street and new asphalt pavement will also be laid. The work will fully close a portion of Smythe Street from Heather Terrace to Parkside Drive, impacting transit services and bus stops.
“It’s going to start mid-May and probably continue to mid-October,” says Greg McCann the City of Fredericton Project Engineer.
Business owners near Smythe and Prospect Streets are concerned since they have already experienced lengthy construction at Smythe Street and the Fredericton Bypass.
“When they did the roundabout up there, it affected our business, and now again this year they are going to be doing this which is going to affect the store again,” said Velma LaFrance, the manager of Kadam Shoe Store.
The city says this development will cause significant traffic disruption so motorists and residents should plan for delays.
“We do also stop by and meet with businesses to see how we can accommodate their needs,” said McCann.
“Hey we’d like to stay in business, the owner said well we might as well close our stores too,” LaFrance said.
Growers Flower Shop is in the same plaza as Kadam Shoe Store.
Barb Webb, the owner of Grower Direct Flowers, says they’ll have to be more reliant on delivering their wares to customers during the construction.
“We’ll work around it. There’s always a way to get there, it just takes a little longer,” Webb said.
WATCH: Downtown Fredericton businesses seeing red after a decade of construction
The second major project is a roundabout that will be built at the intersection of King Street, Brunswick Street, Point Sainte Anne Boulevard and Smythe Street.
The city says there will be many traffic restrictions with this project and construction will start in early July and end in October.
“Instead of breaking it up into two projects over two years, we figured that with the one project happening at the bottom on Smythe Street we would just hit Smythe Street really hard this year, do one big project and finish it up,” said McCann.
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