Latest news with #ChuckChiasson
CTV News
17-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
New Brunswick supports jobs, modernization for metal fabrication company
From left: Jocelyn Larocque, director of engineering, innovation and research and development, Atelier Gérard Beaulieu; Jean-François Martel, deputy mayor of Saint-Quentin; Madawaska-Restigouche MP Guillaume Deschênes-Thériault; Luke Randall, minister responsible for Opportunities NB; Marc Beaulieu, president of Atelier Gérard Beaulieu; Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson; and Chelsea Petersen, project manager, Atelier Gérard Beaulieu. (Source: Government of New Brunswick)
CTV News
04-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
N.B. government says adding sidewalk to resurfaced Miramichi bridge would 'throw it out of balance'
The New Brunswick government says adding a sidewalk to resurfacing plans on Miramichi's Centennial Bridge would throw the entire span 'out of balance.' 'It's not that I don't want a sidewalk,' said Transportation Minister Chuck Chiasson, to reporters on Wednesday. 'A sidewalk has to be a separate project, because the safety standards of today kind of dictate what we need to do to rehab that bridge.' On Sunday, about 100 demonstrators gathered on the Centennial Bridge to protest refurbishment plans that don't include a sidewalk. 'The actual sidewalk cannot be attached to the bridge because it will throw it out of balance. It has to be supported from the piers,' said Chiasson. 'We have to have a certain lane width. We have to have certain widths of a breakdown lane and then we have to have obviously the barriers that keep people from driving off the side of the bridge.' Chiasson said the provincial government was speaking with the municipality about the possibility of adding bus passes and water taxis, to address accessibility issues for pedestrians once the refurbishment is complete. In April, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure said the sidewalk was removed from bridge refurbishment plans due to financial restraints. On Friday, MLA Michelle Conroy said removing sidewalks from the bridge's refurbishment plan would negatively impact the community. 'The people of Miramichi deserve the independence to safely walk across that bridge,' said Conroy. An estimated 13,000 vehicles cross the Centennial Bridge daily. A full shutdown of the 58-year-old bridge, initially scheduled for this summer, has been delayed to 2026. Bridge Protest Demonstrators are pictured on the Centennial Bridge in Miramichi, N.B., on June 1, 2025. (Nick Moore/CTV Atlantic) For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
CBC
28-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
Miramichi's Centennial Bridge closure delayed again, this time to 2026
Social Sharing A long-anticipated full closure of a vital traffic link for northern New Brunswick has been pushed back yet again. A press release from the province announced that work shutting down the Centennial Bridge in Miramichi will be pushed to 2026 instead of the scheduled work that was supposed to happen this summer. The province fired the contractor for the bridge, Ontario-based Julmac Contracting, earlier this month and refused to say at the time if it would affect the project's schedule. "First, I want to say that I understand the frustration of the people in Miramichi about the progress on the Centennial Bridge project in the last number of years," said Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson in the press release. "By making this change to the project schedule, we feel as though we may be able reduce the number of full closures required to complete this project." The government press release did not explain why full closures may be reduced by the schedule change. Miramichi Mayor Adam Lordon said in an interview that while clarity is appreciated, "We'll have to wait to understand what the actual plan is to complete the project." He added that the city will continue to push for building a northern bypass route, which advocates have said would lessen traffic, especially during a full bridge shutdown. A leaked provincial report said it was impossible to be completed before the bridge closure was set to begin in 2025. "That need is going to be there before, during and after a bridge closure," Lordon said. The upgrade was first announced by Brian Gallant's Liberal government in 2015, with a nine-year timeline, including a full closure in 2020 to upgrade the surface. The original cost was estimated at $83 million but has now more than doubled to $195 million. The Gallant government cancelled one of the contracts for the work in 2018 without explanation, the first of many setbacks and delays. The Progressive Conservative government of Blaine Higgs scrapped another of the contracts in 2020 because of spiralling costs. And now the Susan Holt government is the latest to cancel the work, which has been scheduled to see a full shutdown of the bridge for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 summers. Julmac was also removed from working on the nearby Anderson Bridge replacement as well as an approach bridge at the Mactaquac Dam outside of Fredericton. The contractor alleges that it was treated unfairly compared to local contractors, but the province alleges that Julmac breached its contracts. The case is now before the courts. A recent CBC investigation revealed at times heated communication between Julmac and provincial engineers during the company's work on the Marysville Bridge in Fredericton, not long before Julmac was fired from the Centennial Bridge. Lordon declined to comment on Julmac's firing, but again reiterated the need for a long-term plan. "I think the community is looking forward to having a clear plan from now till completion."
