Miramichi bypass wouldn't be finished before 2028, report confirms
Project supporters want bridge shutdown halted until alternate route can be built
A new bypass road in Miramichi would not be finished in time to avoid traffic congestion caused by the Centennial Bridge closure, according to an engineering report obtained by CBC News.
The independent study, commissioned by the previous Progressive Conservative government and written by a private engineering firm, said the road could not be completed before 2028.
Miramichi Bay-Neguac Liberal MLA Sam Johnston said the report confirms what he'd been told and what two transportation ministers from two different governments have said publicly.
"We now know that an alternate northern route, phase one concept, does not appear to be a viable option given the complexity of the project and the time frames involved," he said.
The document contradicts assertions by a group of Miramichiers who say the project could be finished in a year to a year and a half.
The group, led by business owner Les Price, has been pressuring the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure to postpone the bridge closure, planned for this year, to allow their proposed bypass road to be built first.
The long-delayed bridge overhaul would only have to wait another year or two, Price argued in an interview Jan. 9.
"I had a previous minister of DTI [who] had done a report for the last government. And in that report he suggested that phase one could be done in … one to one-and-a-half construction seasons if they got all their ducks in a row."
But the report obtained by CBC says a range of time-consuming issues would have to be sorted out, including topographic surveys, environmental permitting and land acquisition, before construction could start in 2027.
Those issues also include N.B. Power transmission lines, fibre optic cables and railway crossings, it says.
"A project of this complexity requires many phases from planning and preliminary design to consultations and coordination with utilities and other stakeholders, permit requirements from other agencies, funding mechanisms, and finally tendering and construction."
Price said Monday much of the preliminary work before construction doesn't need that amount of time, and he believes the independent engineers were telling department officials what they wanted to hear.
"It's the same BS every time," he said. "They want you to add months upon months upon months, and all of a sudden you've dilly-dallied another two years."
Part of the Centennial Bridge project, launched in 2015 and now estimated to cost $195 million, requires the span to be completely shut down for work on the driving surface.
That has been postponed multiple times but is now expected to happen over the next three construction seasons.
The 1.1-kilometre span across the Miramichi River, completed in 1967, is a key artery not just for the city, but for all traffic moving between northeast New Brunswick and the southern part of the province.
About 13,700 vehicles used it daily in 2023, according the province.
Last year the Higgs government postponed the first season of full closure, saying it wanted to investigate options for re-routing traffic.
It then announced — just months before the provincial election — that consultants would take another look at a bypass road to deal with that traffic when the bridge closed.
The resulting 15-page report, by engineers in the Fredericton office of engineering firm EXP, was submitted to the government on Sept. 6, it says.
That was 13 days before the start of the election campaign.
"I cannot state for certain as to whether or not the previous government should or should have not released information when they had it," Johnston said.
"However, it would have been in the best interest of transparency at that time for them to do so."
Johnston said he's still supportive of a northern bypass for the long term.
The report "does not mean that the idea wasn't without merit and the efforts of those involved are not appreciated," he said.
"But the reality of the situation is such that the alternate northern route, phase one, does not appear to be able to implemented before the Centennial Bridge needs to have significant repairs."
Price said he plans to launch a Facebook page devoted to lobbying for the bypass and hopes to organize a large public meeting on the issue soon.
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