A major construction project on Moncton’s Main Street could cause four months of traffic tie-ups.
It’s called the “Sewer Separation St. George Street East-Contract 1” but the first phase of the project is being done on Main Street.
“It’s a bit unusual to have this project named St. George when we’re actually not on St. George. We thought it was important to stress the fact that this is really what is driving the project. The sewer separation and the plan to get this storm sewer pipe to St. George in future phases” says City of Moncton Director of Engineering Rene Lagacé.
The construction schedule is expected to last four months, but street closures will not last that entire time, because the project is broken down into several phases.
“One of the first phases will be to install that storm sewer pipe into the Petitcodiac River, and we’ll be working into the Chateau Moncton parking lot. That’s when we’ll start to impact the Riverfront Trail, so that’s going to start early April, and we expect that the trail closure will probably be around two months,” Lagacé adds.
He says there will be a detour and cyclists and pedestrians will be redirected.
The project also includes street resurfacing, which will happen starting in May and last until July.
“It would be paving from the Dieppe city limits up to Chateau Moncton, and also the other extremity, which would be from Mechanic Street to King Street. We’re talking about just removing the top layer of asphalt and repaving,” Lagacé stated.
He anticipates the major impact of this construction project will be when they are trying to lay the storm sewer pipe from the south side of Main Street to the north side.
“That’s the work that will take place right at King Street. That’s going to be the major impact, which will probably be around a month of work just to get across there. From a scheduling point of view, that will happen in July, when we’ve seen that the traffic is a little less on our streets because of vacation because there’s no school. There will be some major detours in place,” Lagacé stressed.
The whole project is expected to be completed in September, but Lagacé says it could wrap up sooner than that if all goes well.
The plan is to work closely with the City’s communications department to ensure that the public is kept well informed.
Councillor Charles Leger suggested signage is very important. He also compared this project to one in the Town of Shediac where Main Street had to be shut down, and what they used to communicate with the public.
“I witnessed something that was really quite refreshing during the Shediac construction because Main Street was really blocked. Shediac created some signs that were made specifically for businesses. They had directional signs to bring people around. I would encourage you to speak with Downtown Moncton-Centreville Inc. This will also be a good test for what St. George residents and businesses can expect as we go to the next phase,” Leger suggested to Lagacé during this week’s Moncton City Council meeting.
Lagacé reassured Leger that they have been speaking with DMCI, and looking at possible solutions. He also stressed that everyone involved, including businesses, the public and the City of Dieppe have been and will continue to be kept in the loop on details of the project and how they will be directly impacted.
