Riverview asks for patience as construction at busiest intersection ramps up

Karen Tanner was heading home to Riverview, N.B., Monday night after sailing in Cocagne Cape when she hit a snag. Tanner says when she reached the Gunningsville Bridge, traffic was at a standstill.

"There was a giant line of traffic and I thought hmmm, there must have been fireworks or a festival but then I realized we were inbetween festivals so I could not figure out what was going on but the traffic was jammed in every direction," Tanner said.

Tanner says she ended up sitting in her car on the bridge for about 90 minutes.

"I turned on the radio to see if anyone was going to tell me what was going on and nothing happened," she said. "So I did what I do as I've gotten older...I listened to Broadway tunes for a very long time."

Esther Prosser crossed the bridge Wednesday night and posted a picture on Facebook showing the amount of traffic. She says drivers from two lanes were "trying to squeeze into one".

Construction on Riverview's busiest intersection started in July and is being carried out at night. The town says construction goes from 6 p.m. until 7 a.m..

Michel Ouellet, Riverview's director of engineering and public works says the construction is being done now to increase capacity because of the anticipated four to six month closure of the causeway in 2020. The causeway between Moncton and Riverivew is going to be replaced by a partial bridge, and is also under construction.

5 lanes to help traffic flow

Ouellet said the intersection on the Gunningsville Bridge, which intersects Hillsborough Road and Coverdale Road, is being reconfigured, and will include five new lanes to help traffic flow. He says 42,000 vehicles pass through the intersection each day.

Ouellet says right now, the lane markings are gone, replaced by pylons and the middle of the intersection has been dug down to the dirt. He understands that some motorists are frustrated.

"I guess right now we're seeing the worst, this is the worst," Ouellet said.

"Starting next week we're going to start to see some asphalt which will increase speed across the intersections. We've looked at ways of trying to improve signal timing or even movement across the intersection during the construction there's really nothing we can do right now," he said.

Construction was supposed to be completed by August 31, but Ouellet said the project is slightly behind schedule.

"Right now we're aiming for three more weeks of construction so the end will be the first week of September but you're going to see a lot of progress in the next few weeks especially starting next week with the pole signals put up and we'll see some asphalt," he said.

Ouellet said the point of doing construction at night is to try to cut down on traffic problems. He hopes motorists will be understanding as the project heads into the final phase.

"We do appreciate everybody's patience on this recognizing, sympathizing with everybody. I think we've done what we can on our end to try to minimize it but it going to be another two to three weeks."