Saint John Harbour Bridge will go through brief shutdowns, but at night only
Marc Doiron says stores like his suffer when there are traffic jams caused by years-long bridge project
For years now, business has slowed down between April and November at Doiron Sports Excellence on the west side of Saint John because of the rehabilitation work on Harbour Bridge.
Since 2021, the bridge has been reduced to one lane in each direction, causing traffic jams during peak hours on both the Harbour Bridge and the alternate route that goes over the Reversing Falls Bridge to the west side.
"Every time it happens, traffic here slows down. People avoid the area. You can see it by the amount of people that come into the store," said owner Marc Doiron, who cast his eyes around the nearly empty shop at around 4 p.m. on a Wednesday.
Doiron says the four-phase rehabilitation project, which is scheduled to be competed in 2027, creates traffic delays that affect everyone who relies on the bridge, from commuters to school buses to shoppers and delivery vehicles.
Now Doiron's worried it's going to get even worse after the province announced earlier this week that the entire bridge would be shut down for short periods of time during off-peak hours.
"If they actually stop the traffic fully, I think the city will shut down for an hour to two hours because of the traffic backups," he said.
The province is now saying the full shutdowns of the bridge will take place from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. to minimize disruptions to businesses and residents.
On Monday, the city posted a brief notice on its website from the province's Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, which said the Harbour Bridge would close for brief periods — around 20 minutes — during off-peak hours between now and November.
At the time, the province didn't specify when or how often these closures would take place, which caused anger and confusion from area residents and business owners like Doiron, who aired his frustrations in a Facebook post.
Doiron said the city and the province should revisit the plan with a focus on making things easier for businesses and residents. He said they should do practical things such as consider night work, when most people are home and businesses are closed.
He also said they should better communicate with the public and demonstrate a "genuine understanding" of the impacts on residents and the economy.
Doiron's plea resonated with people, with the post generating more than 150 comments and nearly 600 shares.
Mayor Donna Reardon shared his concerns and said the Reversing Falls Bridge isn't an adequate alternative.
"There's no way to cross the Saint John River except via a bridge," Reardon said.
"We do not have any ferries that are crossing that river to get from the west side of the city over to the east side of the city. It's imperative that we have a good crossing there and that we have that bridge fixed up.
"The Reversing Falls bridge is there, but it's a smaller bridge with only one lane east and west. And you have to cross through the infamous Simms corner, which has two or three trains crossing through it daily and can hold traffic up significantly as well."
Reardon said the city talks to the Department of Transportation about major projects like this, but ultimately scheduling decisions are made by the province in consultation with the contractor.
Like Doiron, Reardon wondered why all the work is done during the day.
"We either need the work done at night or we need it done at the latest point in the day that they could do it, [though] obviously not rush hour," she said.
She also says they should release a schedule of closures, which will be particularly important come fall.
"We can probably swing it for the summer, but once the fall comes we're going to have the school buses back on the road and kids back to school, and that's when your traffic really ramps up, so it's not a great situation," Reardon said.
"If we had that schedule, if we knew exactly when those intermittent closures were happening, we could at least give the public a heads-up and they could maybe re-route or do whatever is required to work around that."
In a letter to Chuck Chiasson, the minister of transportation and infrastructure, the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce echoed the call for doing bridge work outside of daytime business hours.
"Conducting the repairs during off-peak hours — ideally overnight, between 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. would significantly reduce the economic and social impact," wrote CEO Shannon Merrifield.
The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure told CBC News the minister, Chuck Chiasson, was not available for an interview this week.
However, the department did send a statement late Thursday afternoon, saying that work underway on the bridge involves the replacement of bridge bearings beneath the main traffic lanes.
This process requires the bridge deck to be raised using jacks and has to be free of traffic for safety reasons.
The closures will last for about 20 minutes and occur two to three times per month between now and the end of November. It said the closures will happen between 6 p.m. and 7 a.m. to avoid disrupting traffic at peak hours.
The department also said the project has been extended into 2028 because of work required to replace all bearings on the ramps.
The city also released a statement late Thursday saying the first shutdown would happen that night between 6 and 7:30 p.m., and future shutdowns would be announced on the city website and social media channels.
The province will also provide updates on 511 and electronic signs along Route 1 at least two days in advance of each closure.
Doiron knows all of the road and bridge construction work is ultimately good for Saint John. He just wants the city and province to co-ordinate and communicate better to minimize the disruption for residents and businesses.
"There's lots of stuff going on in the city and that's great," he said.
"They're building roads, they're fixing things … if we could snap our fingers and the construction would be over, it would be fantastic. But the bridge just adds that much more pressure."
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With files from Information Morning New Brunswick