Fredericton — The trees remain bare, the grass isn’t quite green and the flowers have yet to bloom, but signs of the season can be found everywhere in the capital city in the form of the summertime staple of bridge closures.
Jordan Hicks is a 26-year-old resident of Fredericton’s north side whose life is completely falling apart due to a bridge on her daily commute being reduced to one lane for the second year in a row.
“So, I leave my place to go to the mall to buy some new shoes and come to the bridge, and there’s this huge lineup of cars waiting,” recalled the elementary school teacher. “First I thought there must have been an accident, and I was pretty excited to drive by and look on in feigned concern. But then I saw something that gave me flashbacks of the same nightmare I faced at this very spot last summer — traffic lights.”
Hicks told The Manatee that she immediately knew the lights could only mean one thing: dreaded bridge construction.
“I needed new shoes right away,” she expressed in devastation. “I was going to a big gala and needed something to match my new dress, and I was on a time crunch to get uptown. The only place to get shoes on the north side is at Walmart, and… no thank-you.”
Upon investigation, our reporter learned that the bridge in question is the Nashwaak Bridge, which gives passage to and from Barkers Point and Lower Saint Marys on the north side of the St. John River. The bridge went through a complete restoration in 2015, when it was fully closed on weekends and was reduced to a single lane throughout much of the summer.
The irritated Hicks went on to tell our reporter that the lane closure “completely ruined” not just her plans to buy new shoes, but her entire life.
“First I was in a hurry picking out shoes, then I was late for dinner with my friends, and now I’m pretty sure they hate me,” she continued. “Next thing you know I was late getting home and missed the first half of The Voice, so I had to stay up late and read what happened, and then I didn’t get to do my lesson planning for the morning so I had nothing to teach.
“So, I get to school the next day and I’m all out of sorts, and no one will listen to me complain about the bridge because everyone’s so caught up talking about Fort McMurray — I really feel like God hates me.”
The bridge is scheduled to be reduced to a single lane for 6 weeks; Hicks isn’t sure what else will go wrong during this time, but she is pretty confident that absolutely everything will.