Busy Charlottetown intersection to close for 2 weeks

The main intersection at the northwest entrance to Charlottetown will be closed for most of the last half of September, the city announced Wednesday.

The intersection of the Trans-Canada, North River Road and Lower Malpeque Road needs a new storm drainage system. The city did some stopgap work at the intersection earlier this summer.

Potential for road collapse

In a news release, the city said the current pipe, which is about 75 years old, could fail or soil could erode around the roadway if the storm channel is not replaced. Either of those situations could lead to a collapse of the road surface.

"The project has to be done, or you risk the culverts collapsing, and then you're into quite a bit longer timeline to try and repair," said Coun. Terry Bernard, chair of the public works department.

"So, we're trying to be proactive."

The city appreciates that the project will be a major disruption as well as frustrating for area businesses and the travelling public, but Bernard said it's necessary.

Businesses are worried

Businesses around the intersection worry they're going to lose money when the area is closed for construction.

Traffic will be allowed into businesses, but everyone else must take detours.

"I would say it would probably affect our sales — I'm going to guess somewhere around 35 per cent — because it's not going to be very manageable for the people in the early part of the morning, which you get a lot of the contractors," said Melvin Roberts, a paint specialist at Benjamin Moore House of Excellence.

"If you saw lineups when they were doing the work through Cornwall, it'll be nothing compared to that, because you'll have four branches of it."

Closure will last two weeks

The $1.7 million project will shut down the intersection starting Sept. 17. It will last about two weeks.

Closing the intersection will allow the work to be completed more quickly, Bernard said.

"It's a major intersection. Will it be an inconvenience? Yes. We're looking to reduce that timeline as soon as possible," explained Bernard.

Some businesses wondered why work couldn't be done at night, but the city says it's difficult to find people to cover 24-hour shifts. Additionally, culvert work requires daylight, and the noise would be too disruptive for hotels in the area.

The project will involve digging a 12-metre trench diagonally across the intersection to excavate the existing pipe and install the new storm channel.

The city has published maps of detours around the intersection.

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