For Kristy Calhoun, the closure of the Princess Margaret Bridge means one less paycheque in her bank account.
The STU student from the Northside quit her second job because she couldn’t get to work on time when the bridge was under construction.
“Before, it would take me maybe five minutes to get from one job to the other, but where it takes so long, I couldn’t keep it up.
“I was always late for work, because when the bridge was closed in the summer, it takes me at least half an hour if not 45 minutes to get from one [to another] in rush hour traffic.”
The Princess Margaret Bridge has been closed since last May and is scheduled to re-open Nov. 15. It was closed last summer for repairs too.
This is the second time the deadline has been extended and it’s two months later than the original re-open date of Sept. 5.
Paolo Ermacora, vice-president of engineering company SNC-Lavalin Inc., blames the latest delay on poor weather conditions and says the bridge was in worse condition than they originally thought.
“The bridge was pretty much deteriorated,” he said.
If the bridge doesn’t open in November, construction will resume next year.
“If it’s not achievable then we’ll just put some regular asphalt and not any waterproofing and we’ll have to come back in 2012,” said Ermacora.
The closure has led to congestion, traffic and delays on and around the Westmorland Street Bridge.
For the many students who travel from the Northside everyday, this can be a hassle.
“The most frustrating part is that they promise us it’s going to be open and then it doesn’t and then they promise us again it’s going to be open and then it’s not,” said Calhoun.
Darren Charters is the traffic engineer for Fredericton. He says the city has done everything they can to relieve crowded intersections.
“We can only do so much, because forcing all that traffic onto the streets where it isn’t normal, the intersections just can’t handle it. They’re over capacity.”
The city has added an extra lane to Maple Street and offers a direct bus route from Brookside to downtown.
They also started an emergency response plan, where fire and police departments have crews on both sides of the river to quickly respond to accidents.
At the end of the day, it’s drivers who make the difference, Charters said.
“Car pooling is an extremely good measure of mitigating traffic…if people doubled up, that would have a huge impact.”
The Princess Margaret Bridge was built in 1957. Reconstruction will cost the province more than $77 million.
The work includes painting, replacing the bridge deck and repairing the 22 piers.
A contract was signed between the department of transportation and SNC-Lavalin to have restorations finished by Labour Day.
SNC-Lavalin is being charged $50,000 for every day that exceeds that deadline.
Transportation Minister Claude Williams says charges will be applied, but for right now, the provincial government is focusing on getting the bridge re-opened.
“It is black and white in the contract…and our intention is to have that contract respected,” he said.
-With files from Lauren Bird.
