Your Traffic Questions Answered!

Thank you for the question! The City of Fredericton has been working closely with the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure on the planned closure of the Princess Margaret Bridge.

As part of this collaboration, a model of the City's transportation network was developed that included the closure of the Princess Margaret Bridge. Prior to the closure, City Crews will be updating traffic signal timing at intersections throughout the City to help mitigate the anticipated changes in traffic patterns.  

Additionally, we have delayed or adjusted planned City capital work to help mitigate impacts to the transportation network.

In 2022 the the Brookside Drive/ Ring Road Intersection will be upgraded to a roundabout. This project is in partnership with the Province of New Brunswick and will be a significant safety improvement at this location. Another smaller one will be at the Lian Street/ Valcourt Drive intersection. Hopefully more to come in 2023!

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Although this configuration provides the highest level of safety for pedestrians, it does seem to cause confusion for drivers. In the past we have done education campaigns using the police but only with limited success. We’ll keep trying.

Rules for operating the half signals:

• Drivers are required by law to stop for the signals when red just like any other signals
• Pedestrians are required to press the button to activate the walk signal and cross on the walk signal
• Drivers turning left from the driveway are controlled by the stop sign and are permitted to turn left during the red phase, but they must yield to pedestrians in the crosswalk.
• When the light is green on Woodstock Road, traffic has priority over pedestrians.

Thanks for the question! The city-owned property along this section of Saunders street is much narrower than the normal street standards because the houses were built right up to the property line. So, in order to ensure access for fire services, the City  made this portion of Saunders one way with on street parking on one side.

Thanks for your question. The situation you describe is due to space and traffic demands. The City does traffic studies are done to determine how to best allocate the space we have available. In some locations, we have enough property and traffic volumes to permit 4 lanes (like at Regent and Prospect). At other locations, there is only enough room for 3 lanes with two being straight though and the third being a turning lane for the most in demand movement (like Aberdeen to George). If we had the opportunity to start from scratch, you can be sure we would have built all the streets to a consistent standard.

Hi! We haven’t explored that possibility in detail yet. We will review the concept in our next master traffic plan. Looking at it preliminarily - it might be a good location!

Although the milled edge does result in vehicles slowing down to enter driveways, and to make turns onto side streets, vehicles following behind need to be aware of what’s happening in front of them. It’s also the case that vehicles turning left sometimes need to come to a full stop on this street to wait for approaching traffic. We encourage residents to slow down in construction zones and pay close attention to their surroundings. For this years project the purpose is mainly asphalt resurfacing. The Installation of an RA-5 for the Regiment Creek area is not planned for this year however it is in the top 10 locations in the city that we would like to install one. Depending on budget we will hopefully get to this one in the next few years.

This summer as part of a large water, sewer, and storm piping project we will be making some changes to Rookwood Avenue up to Woodfield Crescent south, Waggoners Lane, and Odell Park entrance. These changes will address some safety concerns and provide traffic calming to Rookwood Avenue. A roundabout at Rookwood and Waggoners will be constructed to improve the efficiency and safety of this intersection. Rookwood will be narrowed and a multi-use trail added to the east side of the street to accommodate cyclists and provide a trail connection from Wilmot Park to Odell Park. This work will have a notable traffic calming effect for Rookwood as the width of a street can have a big impact on drivers behavior. When a street is narrow and curbed with trees, drivers tend to drive slower as compared to on a wider street. When the project is complete Rookwood will look more like a local street than it does now. This will be the first phase of construction on Rookwood with plans to complete the entire length in the coming years. To stay informed on how this project will impact you please visit the City of Fredericton's social media pages or our website City of Fredericton Construction

As for the possible development of the exhibition grounds. The planning on this is still in its early stages and is likely to be ongoing over the next decade. We are however keeping a close eye on how this will impact the surrounding area. Depending on the traffic levels generated and the access points we are looking at ways to keep traffic from impacting local streets and we will communicate how these concerns can be addressed. For more information and to see the potential side development plans please visit Exhibition Grounds Site Development Plan. We are looking forwards to public engagement on this project. Please visit the site, share, stay informed, and ask questions!

Thank you for the question! Yes, traffic lights are configurable for construction projects. Prior to construction season we make a list of intersections that will be impacted. We make the changes the day construction starts and fine tune the timing as people settle into a new daily route. In this location the signals are traffic actuated. This means that the lights change operating patterns and timing depending on demand. Since the Regent Street right lane southbound is closed for construction all vehicles are in the through/left turn lane. The signal has been programmed to default protected left + green for this lane. However, if a vehicle is present in the Regent Street northbound through/left lane it will change the signal to give a protected left for northbound and southbound left turning movements. Overall this has been accommodating everyone well and has not been causing unreasonable delays. We will continue to monitor the intersection and make changes as necessary.

Thank you for your comments. Brunswick Street has been studied in the past and it has been determined that the most effective way to operate the signals on the street is to use “signal progression”. Signal progression is a way to time the lights on a one-way street in order to increase efficiency, predictability and control speeds. The signals are timed that if a vehicle gets a green light and drives the speed limit, they will get every green light all the way to the end. However, if the vehicle speeds, they will have to stop because the next light is still red. This prevents speeding along the length of the entire corridor however it unfortunately does not prevent speeding in isolated sections. To address this and to make better use of Brunswick Street the city is looking into the feasibility of adding bike lanes and more on street parking along this corridor; this would result in travel lanes getting narrower and vehicle speeds reducing.