Busy construction season ahead for Dieppe drivers

Road construction season has arrived and drivers in Dieppe are being warned it will be a busy one.

Angele Spencer, director of engineering for the City of Dieppe, said $21 million will be spent on streets and roads.

"Obviously, that will mean some delays," she told Information Morning Moncton.

"The major projects are the extension of Dieppe Boulevard, past MelansonRoad, and we're constructing two new roundabouts." Spencer said.

The main reason for extending Dieppe Boulevard is the building of a new school for students in Grades 3 to 8.

The school willalleviate overcrowding at cole Amirault, cole Carrefour de l'Acadie and cole Mathieu-Martin in the francophone south school district.

The roundabouts will be built at Dieppe Boulevard and Melanson Road, and at Dieppe Boulevard and Belle-FortStreet at a cost of $6 million.

Delays are expected all summer

Dieppe is also planning "major reconstruction," including culvert replacement and new curbs, on several other streets:

• Gauvin Road, between Bras d'OrAvenue andd'AulneyCourt at a cost of $2.7 million
• Virginia Avenue, betweenAcadieAvenue andGrand-PrStreet at a cost of $2 million
• Fox Creek Road, betweenAmiraultStreet andLeblancRoad at a cost of $2.7 million
• Sunset Street, between Paul Street and Acadie Avenue at a cost of $600,000

"Most of our projects ... will take the majority of the construction season," Spencer said.

In addition to the major reconstruction projects, the followingstreets will be re-paved:

• AmiraultStreet, betweenChartersvilleRoad andMelansonRoad and in the middle of the marsh
• Dieppe Boulevard, betweenEngelhartStreet and Canaan Drive
• Thomas Street, betweenThaddeStreet and Juniper Street
• GouldStreet, between Notre-Dame Street and College Street

Spencer says many of those projects are expected to cause delays to drivers.

"We just ask the public to give themselves a little bit of extra time in the morning to get to work."

Harrisville Boulevard interchange gets underway

Construction is also expected to begin this summer on the new Harrisville Boulevard interchange at Route 15 and the new overpass.

Spencer said while it is the Department of Transportation that is managing that project, the City of Dieppeis working closely with the province.

"From our understanding there will be minimal impact to traffic this summer because they're working on the piers for the bridge widening which will happen next summer," she explained.

The province "decided to do most of the construction during one season which will be next year. So there will be quite a bit of impact to traffic and we're still working with themon detour plans and how to manage that."