June 22, 2006 – Traffic in the Altona area will be rerouted from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the next two months while the Public Works Department repairs the pedestrian bridge that traverses Veterans Drive near Addelita Cancryn Junior High School.
The bridge was damaged in a freak accident with a dump truck in October 2003. (See "Dump Truck Body Ends Up Wedged Beneath Bridge").
As the bridge overpasses a major thoroughfare, all the work will be done at night, a release from Government House said.
According to Public Works Commissioner George Phillips, two lanes out of the four that pass under the bridge will be closed at all times while the project is underway, but at some point, he said, all four lanes will be closed. "During a critical period of the repair work, all four lanes will be closed to vehicular traffic."
Meanwhile, during the construction periods, detours will be in effect.
Traffic going east will be diverted from Veterans Drive – at the intersection of Veterans Drive and the western section of Rue De Carenage by the Banco Popular building – to the Harwood Highway, which runs parallel to Veterans Drive. Motorists will be able to re-enter Veterans Drive at the eastern side of Rue de Carenage, where it runs south between the cemeteries. They can also re-enter by making a right onto Gasverks Gade, the road on the western side of Western Cemetery.
Motorists traveling west during the detour times will either turn left on Rue De St. Barthelmey and take it through Frenchtown and re-enter the highway by Cancryn school. Or, they can turn right at the stoplight between Emile Griffith Park and Percy's Bus Stop at Gasverks Gade and take it to Harwood Highway, making a left to continue west.
Motorists who are allowed to travel through the construction zone – and the release did not explain who they would be – were cautioned to travel with extreme care and pay attention to the signs, flagmen and construction workers.
Phillips said the public would be given ample notice when the four lanes are to be closed.
