Fredericton roundabout construction will cause delays

Fredericton drivers can expect delays when travelling along Route 8 as crews begin building a new traffic circle that is intended to ease the traffic on two busy city streets.

John Lewis, a city traffic engineer, said on Monday that construction has started and drivers who travel along Route 8 in the city will notice immediate changes.

"Traffic on Route 8 will be reduced to a single lane of traffic in both directions, which will allow the roundabout to be built in phases," he said.

"The northern half of the roundabout will be built first so that means all traffic is going to be shifted to the westbound lanes."

Once that part of the construction is finished, Lewis said the southern half of the roundabout will be built and traffic will be shifted back to eastbound lanes.

The connections to Prospect Street and Bishop Drive will be finished later in the project.

It is expected to be completed and opened to trafficby mid-September.

Lewis said drivers will need to be prepared for some delays when using this stretch of highway during the summer.

"The plan is to keep traffic open on Route 8 for the length of the project but given that traffic will be reduced to a single lane in both directions and there will be a reduced speed limit through there, you can certainly expect some delays," he said.