Fredericton drivers prepare for months of detours

Many commuters and shoppers in Fredericton will have to find new travel routes on Wednesday as the Regent Street overpass above Route 8 is closed for three months.

The work to replace the structure is part of a $4.8-million infrastructure project at one of the province's busiest intersections.

The biggest disruptions will be felt by drivers wanting to travel north-south on Regent Street above the highway, but the reduction of lanes on Route 8 and on Regent Street between Priestman and Prospect streets will likely further snarl up traffic.

Here are some of the detours or changes you need to know about:

North-South

Getting to and from Regent Mall, the Corbett Centre and Knowledge Park will be more complicated for most people living downtown or on the north side.

Jon Lewis, Fredericton's traffic engineer, said there are at least three alternatives for these journeys.

"Some of the possibilities are using Knowledge Park Drive over to Kimble Road. There's also Bishop Drive to Smythe Street, and Bishop Drive to Hanwell Road," said Lewis.

The city's website includes maps of other alternative routes for southbound and northbound journeys.

Chalmers hospital

Getting to the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital from the west or south will need a detour via the Smythe Street roundabout and Priestman Street.

Shorter trips

The University of New Brunswick and St. Thomas University campuses are quite close to Regent Mall and the Corbett Centre, but the closure will mean a relatively large detour.

The installation of the temporary pedestrian bridge beside the overpass might mean this trip is just as quick on foot as by car.

"It's a very, very busy pedestrian link of course as well," said Lewis.

"It wasn't really practical to expect pedestrians to walk all the way around over to Smythe Street, for example. So this will provide that direct pedestrian link throughout the construction period."

East-West

No detour is necessarily needed for east-west journeys.

Route 8 beneath the overpass will not be closed; however it has already been reduced to one lane in each direction.

It would be wise to allow extra time for these east-west journeys, or — if applicable — to use the Trans-Canada Highway instead of trips along Route 7.

Bus changes

11S Prospect and 13S Prospect will use the Uptown Centre (opposite Fredericton High School) as a transfer point. 10N Carlisle and 12N Brookside will wait for transfers at Uptown Centre.

17S Regent will stop at Uptown Centre and take passengers over to Corbett Centre. People going to Regent Mall are advised to disembark at Knowledge Park at bus lay-by.

Fixed routing is unable to service the Regent Mall.

16N Marysville and 17S Regent will be the travelling the roundabout to Corbett Centre.

16N Marysville will leave Corbett Centre and travel to Forestry Centre, then through roundabout to Uptown Centre, and back to normal routing.

Shuttle service will be provided from Uptown Centre to Regent Mall.

Tentative times: 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., and 8:45 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. Times subject to change.

To reduce traffic issues around the affected area, the city is asking residents to consider public transit, walking, cycling or to change travel times.

"A lot of these routes are already fairly busy, so one of the key messages to get out there is if there is any chance of you using flex-time or shifting your travel time so that they're outside of peak times, then that will certainly really help," said Lewis.