Saint John traffic delays begin

Saint John drivers are being warned to expect delays and detours beginning on Monday and lasting until September.

Numerous road construction projects are getting under way, beginning with a sewer project on Station Street, in front of Harbour Station.

Leah Fitzgerald, communications officer for the City of Saint John, said heavy equipment will begin tearing up the pavement Monday morning.

"They're going to be milling the asphalt in the northern two lanes on the street," she said.

That construction will stretch from Station Street to City Road during the summer as new water, sewer and natural gas lines are installed. To complicate matters, the most logical alternate route won't be available either.

Peel Plaza project coordinator Bill Edwards said Union Street is also scheduled for major infrastructure work, and that will make getting around Saint John interesting.

"Interesting is a good term," he said. "It's going to be a very challenging summer."

Carlton Street, Wellington Row and Sewell Street are also scheduled for construction this summer. At times work will also be completed on Highway 1 at the One Mile interchange

Edwards and other engineers who are leading the various road construction projects plan to get together over the coming weeks to come up with ways to limit delays for drivers.

"With all of that work going on in the uptown area, which is somewhat compounded by the fact that the Harbour Bridge is going to have some work done on it this year and some of those lanes will be closed as well it obviously makes imminent sense for everybody involved to try and come up with a plan," said Edwards.