The Town of High River is looking at tinkering with traffic flow over the Centre Street Bridge during construction on the flood gate.

Director of Engineering and planning for the Town Reiley McKerracher, says they had to see how it would work before they made any changes.

"We are tweaking it as we can go. So wherever we see where we can make improvements we have been making it. The temporary three-way stop on 5th Street and 3rd Avenue southeast, is an example of one of the improvements. We noticed traffic was backing up pretty bad on 3rd Avenue, and we decided to proceed with a three-way stop there."

The Town has temporarily changed the intersection of 3rd Avenue and 5th Street S.E. into a three-way stop to help ease traffic bypassing the Centre Street construction.

He says he's heard about problems getting in and out of Sobey's and says they're looking at making some adjustments to make it easier to access the store.

In the meantime the planned closing of the Centre Street Bridge has been moved from Monday, July 16 to Wednesday, July 18 starting at midnight and running through Thursday, July 19.

Centre street will be closed from Macleod Trail to High Country Drive, however pedestrian access will still be in place, as well as emergency services will be able to get through without delay.

The Town says businesses outside the construction zone (North of High Country Drive and East/West of Centre Street) are still open and accessible during this time.

Drivers and residents are encouraged to use 498th Avenue, via 5th Street and and 3rd Avenue S.W. to access the downtown.

The flood gate project is expected to be complete by late October 2018.

 

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