City, Downtown Fredericton Work To Reduce Disruption During Regent Street Upgrades
FREDERICTON – The first phase of a major infrastructure project began Monday on Regent Street between Queen and King Streets. The upgrade work is expected to continue into September.
The city says businesses have been given ample notice of the construction and are working in collaboration with Downtown Fredericton to reduce disruption to businesses and their patrons.
“We’re talking about an arterial that sees 20 to 30,000 vehicles a day and a number of mixed-use businesses and residential components. This is a big deal,” said Bruce McCormack, Executive Director of the Downtown Fredericton Association during a media briefing on Friday.
The project will involve a complete upgrade of the area’s sanitary, storm, and road infrastructure with the goal of improving public safety and the aesthetics of the area.
Pedestrians will continue to have safe routes to enter businesses and signage will be put up to inform the public that businesses remain open.
The project’s timeline is expected to begin with the section of Regent Street closed off between King and Queen Street. By the end of August, it is expected the closure will extend further into the King Street intersection.
“Downtown business owners are updated four times a year on what is not only happening that year, but also happening 2, 3, 4, 5 years out,” said Giselle Goguen, Manager of Strategic Communication and Public Engagement for the city of Fredericton. “They’ll never have less notice than that so there are no surprises. It’s the best way that we can support these businesses when this necessary work has to happen.”
Goguen says the advance notice has allowed businesses to prepare for any disruptions and make alternative plans. The Muse Café, for example, opened a pop-up on the Northside for the summer partially because of the construction’s potential impact.
Deliveries and waste removal will be accommodated for businesses in the area and affected businesses will be given weekly updates by the city. The project’s lead engineer, Ashley Goggin, says the construction team will try to avoid more significant disruptions by providing notice and by working off-peak hours.
“Recognizing that not all businesses along there are strictly nine-to-five, you get restaurants with after hours or later hours in the evening, our contracts have built-in flexible hours,” she said. “That way, if ever we do have to disrupt their water service, for instance, we’ve allowed for that to take place either early morning or at some other off-peak time.”
While the construction is expected to take the entire summer, McCormack is hopeful that on the other side, the improvements to the area will have a lasting impact on businesses.
“Hopefully by late August or early September, we’re going to be super clean and neat and it’s going look great. We hope that will impact businesses immediately upon reopening,” said McCormack. “The impact, in the end, will be so positive and so good and we’re anxious to see the completion, but it’s going to take a long time.”
Liam Floyd is a reporter with Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].