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Fredericton working to help hotels near Regent overpass

The City of Fredericton's traffic engineer says he has been working with the province to help direct customers toward businesses near the Regent Street construction project.

Overpass replacement affecting businesses, increasing rush hour traffic

Redmond Shannon · CBC News ·
The old Regent Street overpass is no more. The route is not scheduled to reopen until August 31. (CBC)

The City of Fredericton's traffic engineer says he has been working with the province to help direct customers toward businesses near the Regent Street construction project.

"Certainly it was very important for us to get up the signages as quickly as we could so people knew how to find those businesses," said Jon Lewis.

The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure says it worked with the city to install signs for the two hotels located either side of the Regent Street overpass; The City Motel and The Fredericton Inn.
City of Fredericton traffic engineer Jon Lewis says the city and province are installing more signs to direct drivers toward affected businesses. (CBC)

With the removal of the bridge, both hotels are now effectively located in cul-de-sacs, and are flanked by traffic pylons and construction equipment.

The Fredericton Inn's manager, John Waite, told CBC News it's too early to tell if business will be badly affected by the construction.

He said he would know better by the end of the month when vacation season kicks-off.

Traffic shift

Jon Lewis said there has been a definite shift in traffic patterns to alternate routes.

"Certainly where we are here on Smythe Street, we're seeing a lot more traffic, but we've been making tweaks as best we can to help manage that as best we can," said Lewis.

He said the traffic lights at Smythe and Prospect have been changed to allow north-south traffic on Smythe more green-light time.

Nonetheless, the traffic can still be seen backing up from the Prospect intersection into the roundabout.

"The signal timings, we're constantly looking at those to try and make sure they're operating as efficiently as possible," said Lewis.

He said drivers should note that making a small change to a traffic signal can have knock-on effects on other parts of the traffic network.

Taxi patience

Checker Cab co-owner George Youssef said the traffic delays have increased journey times for his drivers.

Fredericton taxis fares work on a zone system rather than meters.
Checker Cab co-owner George Youssef asks customers to call a little earlier to make sure they get their taxi on time. (CBC)

"We'll take the loss. We're not going to charge it on to the customer," said Youssef.

He said call response times are a bigger issue for his business.

"The effect is that people are waiting a little extra than they normally wait," said Youssef.

"We usually give them 10 minutes to ask for a cab, and it's usually at the door, but with the traffic as it is, it may be 15 to 20."

He is asking customers to call 30 minutes ahead to make sure they get a cab on time.

The Regent Street overpass construction project is scheduled to continue until August 31.

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