Cornwall bypass on track to meet fall 2019 goal, says province
Still a lot of gravel and paving left to do
P.E.I.'s chief engineer says a lot of earth is being moved and a lot of work is being done this summer to make sure the Cornwall bypass will be completed by fall 2019.
Stephen Yeo said crews have worked on building bridges along the bypass, including one over Clyde River, and that they had a "very good summer weather-wise" for construction to be done.
"There was only one day we lost for rain, so we're right on schedule for what we wanted to accomplish this year," Yeo said.
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"We'll be working late into the fall and then we'll have an early start next spring, probably in May or June."
One parcel of land left to acquire
Yeo said construction will be ongoing at least until the end of November and that next spring, in either May or June, work will continue to put overpass structures on the Baltic and Bannockburn Roads as well as other areas.
"We'll be placing a lot of gravel next year and paving," he said.
"So we anticipate that we're going to be open and operational on the new Trans-Canada alignment in October [2019]."
Yeo said he expects traffic disruptions to be minimal as crews begin work to reattach the two highways next summer.
The province has finalized all but one of the land agreements it needs for the project — which is being currently negotiated, he said.
"It's a parcel near the Cornwall Road that were still dealing with but we'll see how that turns out — but the department has acquired the rights to that land," Yeo said.
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With files from Brittany Spencer