Fredericton moves to prevent left turns into Tim Hortons drive-thru
Plans to build a $40,000 turnaround on Wallace Avenue to prevent left-hand turns into a Tim Hortons will go forward after city council amended the traffic bylaw this week.
The amendment passed unanimously at council's regular meeting.
Wayne Knorr, a spokesperson for the city, said Wednesday that the turnaround will be built during the 2020 road construction season.
"The turnaround was a recommendation of staff and it would be constructed as a matter of course through our engineering and operations department," he said. "The restriction for the left-turn lane was actually needed to make the turnaround work."
Knorr confirmed the bylaw change banning left turns into the Tim Hortons will not take effect until the turnaround is in place.
The turnaround on the city's north side is supposed to alleviate traffic jams caused by the Tim Hortons drive-thru.
Drivers who want to stop at Tim's will be forced to continue along Wallace, turn around at the end of it, at Cityview, then line up to make a right turn into the drive-thru, Knorr said.
Vehicles now queuing for the drive-thru are blocking traffic on both Wallace Avenue and Main Street, and Knorr said the changes will will prevent that from happening.
The city built Wallace Avenue in the early 2000s, and it leads to the area where the city puts cleared snow. After that, the Tim Hortons changed its drive-thru entrance to Wallace Avenue.
