Major Charlottetown intersection opening delayed

Repairs to the storm drain at theintersection of North River Road and Capital Drivein Charlottetown will not be completed on time, according to the city's public works manager.

Heavy rainfall has delayed work onto the nearly 75-year-olddrainage system.

Paul Johnston said he hopes the intersection will be open to traffic by middle of next week, likely Wednesday or Thursday.

Johnston said crews are still dealing with the water and the damage it caused to work that has already been done.

"The compactions and soils that had been put in place got moved around by the water," he said.

Johnston said it's unclear how long the rain will delay the project, which was originally expected to last only two weeks.

"We'll just continue to work forward," he said. "The contractor will be out there Saturday trying to move things forward."

Potential for road collapse

When the project began,the city said the existing pipe could fail or soil could erode around the roadway if the storm channel was not replaced.The city said that erosion could lead to a road collapse.

Coun. Terry Bernardsaid in a previous interview with CBC Newsthe city knew the work would cause major disruptions to traffic and business.

Many businesses worried they would lose money while the intersection was closed.

"I would say it would probably affect our sales I'm going to guess somewhere around 35 per cent because it's not going to be very manageable for the people in the early part of the morning, which you get a lot of the contractors," said Melvin Roberts, a paint specialist at Benjamin Moore House of Excellence.

Johnston said he'll be keeping an eye on the sky for the next week.

"The remaining work, hopefully, go as planned."