Major Charlottetown intersection closure starts Monday

The intersection at the top of North River Road, where it meets Capital Drive, in Charlottetown will close Monday morning and not reopen for about two weeks.

The city decided closing the intersection was the best way to deal with replacing the storm culvert that runs diagonally across it. City public works manager Paul Johnston said the current culvert is estimated to be 75 years old.

"There's no floor in sections of it, some of the seams are open and water [is] not necessarily staying in it," said Johnston.

"There's a possibility that may cause a road collapse at some point in the future."

The work will require digging a 12-metre-wide trench across the intersection. Johnston said traffic through the work zone would have been very limited in any case, and trying to keep it open would slow down the work.

"We expect that would prolong the project to five to six weeks," he said.

Detours will be clearly marked and flaggers will be on site to help people trying to get to local businesses. The city has also published maps of the detours.

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