Drivers on a stretch of Bridgeport Road in uptown Waterloo may have noticed something unusual in the past few days: Traffic lights facing the one direction where traffic can’t possibly come from.
Bridgeport is one-way through the uptown core, with anyone wanting to move through the area eastbound having to use the one-way Erb Street instead.
That’s set to change – at least temporarily.
With King Street closed for construction between Bridgeport and Erb, work is underway to prepare for Bridgeport to carry traffic in both directions between King and Regina streets.
“The intent is to alleviate some of the traffic on Regina Street and provide alternate options for motorists in and around the uptown core,” Eric Saunderson, a senior project manager with the Region of Waterloo, said in an interview.
In effect, the change will allow drivers looking to travel through the entire uptown area to move between King and Regina and Bridgeport, instead of having to stay on Regina for the entire trip.
If signs, pavement markings and traffic lights can be set up in time, the one-block stretch of Bridgeport could be open to two-way traffic as soon as this weekend. It would then stay that way until the roadwork in the area is completed, which is tentatively scheduled as November.
Last year, a short section of Erb was turned into a two-way street in the same area due to separate construction in the area.
