Traffic delays will continue for months at Mactaquac Dam, near Fredericton
About 4,300 vehicles cross that bridge each day, province says
The construction project on the bridge leading to the Mactaquac Dam has blown by its 2024 deadline, meaning continued delays for the thousands of commuters who use the crossing every day.
Work on the approach channel bridge, the link leading to N.B. Power's Mactaquac generating station on the St. John River, upriver from Fredericton, was scheduled to be finished in November.
The province now says the project won't be completed until late spring at the earliest.
That means traffic will continue to be restricted to a single lane and dependent on traffic lights for the foreseeable future.
CBC News requested an interview with someone from the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to speak about the delay, but no one was made available.
"Remaining work to complete the bridge deck, curb, and railing cannot be completed under winter conditions for quality reasons," Jacob MacDonald, a spokesperson for the department, said in an email.
"This work will start again in late spring and is expected to take [four-to-five] weeks to complete," he said.
The goal of the project, started in the fall of 2022, is to increase the weight capacity of the crossing as well as extend its lifespan by an additional 30 years, according to the Department of Transportation.
The province estimates that about 4,340 vehicles cross each day.
But even when the project is complete, commuters may not see the road return to two lanes of traffic right away.
"Yearly scheduled maintenance work conducted by N.B. Power could overlap with the completion of this project, potentially continuing the lane reduction into the summer months," MacDonald said.
According to the Transportation Department website, the bridge scored 75 out of 100 on the bridge condition index when it was inspected in 2019.
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