Intersection improvements coming for each end of the Hillsborough Bridge

The P.E.I. Department of Transportation is looking at ways to improve the flow of traffic on the Hillsborough Bridge, focusing on the intersections leading to the bridge on the Stratford and Charlottetown sides.

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"The traffic flow on the bridge is not actually impeded so the issue becomes the connection points, at the intersections at Grafton Street and Stratford Road," said Darrell Evans, from the Department of Transportation, Infrastructure and Energy.

"We're looking at some intersection improvements at those two locations in the future either by advancing signage or advanced signals or roundabouts." 

Evans says the Hillsborough Bridge itself is nowhere near full capacity. Traffic counts in 2017 showed more than 34,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily. In the summer, that increases to about 39,000 due to tourist traffic.

"We look to our closest neighbour and the MacKay Bridge in Halifax. It handles up to 70,000 vehicles a day so we're just under half of what they can handle right now," Evans said. 

Evans says the department has considered a number of options to help with traffic flow, including changing the lane direction to handle commuter traffic the way they do in Halifax. That, he says, was ruled out because of the expense and infrastructure it would take.

"The bridges in Halifax, they man that system 24/7/365," Evans said. "They also have significant infrastructure investments on their bridge structure to handle overhead sign structures." 

Evans also says it's not feasible to add lanes to the current bridge, especially when it is still under capacity.

"Back in 96-97 we added two lanes and that was a $60 million affair," Evans said. "It would take significant investment just to widen the causeway, significant environmental effects so we haven't pursued that avenue any further."

Long-term plan

The department will work with the city of Charlottetown as they proceed with their work on the Eastern Gateway.

"They have some intersection work for Water Street so we will partner with them to do our work on Grafton Street and Riverside Drive at the same time," Evans said.

Evans says motorists will have to be patient.

"We're hopeful we can get these done within the next three to five years," Evans said.

On the radar

Stratford Mayor David Dunphy is pleased that the traffic issues are on the Department of Transportation's radar.

"Any kind of a solution is going to be expensive and a long-term solution and the province is being pro-active and looking at that," Dunphy said.

"It's just a question of what you can do with the land that's available and how much solutions cost, so I think that's an ongoing discussion and we'll continue to have that discussion."

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