Drivers heading east along Highway 1 in Coquitlam will have to veer a little to the right this week to make way for the new King Edward Street overpass.
Starting Friday, construction crews will open the south detour lane while westbound highway motorists will see a new route start next Monday, just north of the viaduct.
The plan is to level the freeway bump during the 12-week closure of King Edward Street to finish the overpass between Lougheed Highway and United Boulevard. Once complete in November, the overpass will span the CP Rail tracks on King Edward, with the freeway running under it.
Mark Zaborniak, manager of design and construction for the city of Coquitlam, which is in charge of communications for the provincial project, said last Saturday's closure of King Edward went ahead as planned.
The Monday morning commute was relatively smooth, he said, but by the afternoon, traffic in the area was congested as drivers came to grips with the closure in its first week.
City staff and Kiewit/Flatiron, the contractor for the Port Mann/Highway 1 project, are now "monitoring the traffic patterns and adjustments will be made over the next few days to improve the traffic flows, where possible," Zaborniak said.
Among those improvements are changes to directional signs to get to United businesses and reminders about new traffic flows (a third lane has been added for eastbound United drivers, between Burbidge Street and the Mary Hill Bypass; as well, the Taft Detour for United-to-westbound Highway 1 drivers is open from 2 to 8 p.m.).
For more information about the King Edward Street overpass work, call 604-927-3500 or email [email protected]; for the Port Mann/Highway 1 project, call 1-866-999-7641.
