Fredericton-north residents can expect months of construction detours starting Friday

Fredericton's Princess Margaret Bridge will close for five weeks starting Friday, but that won't be the end of construction disruptions for the city's north side this spring and summer.

The city has announced that once work to resurface and repair the bridge is complete, part of Riverside Drive will close in order to raise the road for flood mitigation and renew underground piping.

City spokesperson Shasta Stairs said this will be the second phase of the Riverside Drive project that first began in 2023.

Stairs said the city anticipates work will begin in early summer and result in the closure of Riverside Drive, from Sumac Street to Corbett Avenue.

"The Sumac Street intersection will remain open and traffic detoured around Sumac Street, Colwell Drive, Carmen Avenue and Watters Drive," said Stairs.

Stairs did not say how long the project is expected to take.

Mike Babineau has owned the Cannon's Cross Pub since 2017 and says there have been construction projects that affected access to the restaurant every spring since.

Mike Babineau, owner of Cannon's Cross in Fredericton, said he's experienced construction disruptions every year since he took over the restaurant in 2017. (Shane Fowler/CBC)

Both construction projects this year will again have an impact, as the restaurant is located on Riverside Drive and the Princess Margaret Bridge is the closest crossing available to the south side of the city.

"It's been a struggle for the last seven or eight years," Babineau told Information Morning Fredericton. "It definitely impacts business because the detours people have to take, take more time."

He said the restaurant normally feels the biggest impact around lunch time because of the added time needed to get through the detour.

"People are limited for time on their lunch break so they're less likely to go somewhere where they have to take a 30-minute detour," said Babineau, "It definitely has a pretty negative impact."

Babineau estimates the road closures will decrease revenue by about 20 to 30 per cent.

"It's less staff, less people working, increased costs — it's everything."

Although Babineau says the bridge work won't have as big an impact, he wishes the city had scheduled both projects at the same time to lower the total time the restaurant will be affected.

"I'm sure they have their reasons but, business-wise, it's already going to be a dead zone over there for the area and now we're just extending that dead zone over the course of 16 weeks, instead of 10 to 12 weeks," he said.

Babineau said construction is frustrating, but he understands it's work that needs to be done.

He said he appreciates that the city has improved its communication about these projects and in keeping the public informed.