Fredericton bridge closure concerns businesses

Business people in downtown Fredericton are worried about the closure of the Princess Margaret Bridge this summer for repairs.

There doesn't appear to be a strategy to deal with the thousands of rerouted vehicles that will be entering the downtown in June and July, said Bruce MacCormack, general manager of Downtown Fredericton, which represents the downtown business community.

"We have a lot of questions, we haven't had any answers," he said.

MacCormack believes having so many extra vehicles trying to get through the downtown will cause gridlock and may even make people avoid the area, which could hurt businesses.

So far, no one has said how that will be addressed.

"We need to know now, so we can put our plan in order," said MacCormack. "We just can't go out and wiggle our nose and have everything looked after and everyone informed."

Darren Charters, the city's traffic engineer, said some plans could include a beefed up bus schedule, encouraging peopleto bike to work and flexible working hours.

But the provincial Department of Transportation will take the lead on developing a strategy, he said.

"They're going to come up with a communication plan in conjunction with the city and they'll present that next month," said Charters.

"There's a lot of details to work out. What I can say is a lot of people are doing a lot of hard work to make the impact of this bridge closure as less painful as possible."

The provincial government recently awarded the Phase 2 renovation contract to the Brun-Way Group for $78 million.

The project will include: removal and replacement of the bridge deck and floor beams, replacement of the bridge guardrail, expansion joint assemblies, concrete removal, capping of bridge piers and abutments, painting and upgrading of structural steel work.

The 1,098-metre Princess Margaret Bridge, which crosses the St. John River, is about 52 years old.

Last May, a 10-kilogram piece of concrete fell from the bridge.