Miramichiers dread upcoming closure of Centennial Bridge
CBC
Miramichi’s Centennial Bridge is set to close on April 1 for at least eight months for a massive overhaul.
The bridge won't reopen until Dec. 1.
The city and the province held a community meeting this week to hear from residents about their concerns and to answer questions about how the closure will affect them. About 100 residents showed up.
“It's going to be a little bit chaotic at first, for sure, or let's say a lot chaotic,” said New Brunswick Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson.
Both levels of government are aiming to reduce that chaos by putting measures in place to help improve the flow of traffic. Instead of travelling across the bridge, drivers will take a detour directing vehicles along Highway 8 and the King George Highway.
“It's going to be hard on everybody,” Chiasson said. “And so we're doing our best to mitigate as best we can.
"We will be doing a lot of work to make sure that the King George Highway stays in good shape throughout the process.”
The province has spent about $2 million on this and other mitigation efforts, he said.
This work includes adding extra traffic lights, buying two accessible transit buses and a water taxi for use in the warmer months.
“All of that will be legacy that will be left behind after the job is done, for the city to do whatever they want,” Chiasson said.
The bridge rehabilitation project has been discussed for more than a decade.
During that time, the price tag has ballooned from to $185 million from $88.5 million. The federal government is contributing $38 million of that.
The first two years of closures will allow for resurfacing of both the north and south sides of the bridge.
Chiasson said a third closure will be needed to work on the centre portion of the bridge, which will take place in either 2027 or 2028.
People who use the Indigenous-led overnight shelter on the edge of downtown Winnipeg are weighing their next steps after learning the facility is set to shut down, but Manitoba's premier says nobody will get left behind.
An 81-year-old man from Prince County has died after a single-vehicle crash on Route 14 near Christopher Cross, police say.
The B.C. government has raised the ceiling to $75,000 for potential damages over intimate-image abuse.
A man was found dead inside a house on Elm Street in Niagara Falls after it caught fire on Wednesday night, police say.
It’s been eight days since Suncor’s Sarnia refinery reported an oil spill into the St. Clair River, and it remains unclear what caused the pipeline leak, how much got into the water — and where cleanup efforts are at.
A joint operation involving Edmonton police has led to the deportation of two men, over what police say is a wave of extortions targeting the city's South Asian community.
Red Lake is hoping a petition will help it land federal funding for a new arena.
An N.W.T. MLA says the territory needs to fiercely protect treaty rights and territorial waters, amid Alberta’s merger of two major river basins, and the proposed treatment and release of oilsands tailings into the environment.
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments against the Liberal government's deeply controversial decision to outlaw certain firearms.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is rejecting Opposition accusations of entitlement for using a private jet last fall courtesy of the Saudi government.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s department of Transportation and Infrastructure is promising policy changes after a Conception Bay South family spoke out about the expropriation and resale of the land where their home once stood.
Nova Scotia’s seniors and long-term care minister is calling on administrators at nursing homes to make direct appeals to their employees amidst protracted contract talks with the union representing workers at more than 50 sites.
A pair of Saint John poverty researchers have told N.B. Power's rate hearing that rising electricity prices are a serious affordability problem for low-income households and the utility or provincial government should match programs in place elsewhere that would help.