Residents riled over long road to campus
People in and around Lennoxville are not happy about the idea of the Bishop’s Bridge being closed for two months this summer. More than the closure itself, though, it is the lack of clear word from the Transport Ministry surrounding the work that has people really upset.
“We just don’t have information,” said Genevieve Beliveau Dubois, who sits on the governing board of the Panda Daycare. “We’re not sure of dates or if there’s going to be sidewalk access. We’re just in the dark and hearing a lot of rumours.”
Beliveau Dubois said that, like most people in Lennoxville, the parents at Panda have become accustomed to the occasional need to detour around the problematic bridge. With the go-to detour of Glenday road also closed, however, she said that there is a lot of concern about how drop-off is going to work for parents over the summer with everyone having to go through downtown Sherbrooke.
“That has added, in the past, two hours of driving to my day,” the board member said.
In addition to the staff and daycare parents disrupted by the work, Bishop’s is also expecting the daily arrival of hundreds of local children over the summer for the various day camps that now operate on the campus.
“I have no idea how this is going to work,” said Shanna Young, one of the local parents who has registered for the Lennoxville Day Camp.
Where most people think of summer camp as a source of fun and excitement, Young said that this year the complicated process of getting to and from
camp is going to add a large amount of stress to countless lives.
“Almost everyone would be coming across the Bishop’s bridge,” the mother said, noting that that she has heard nothing from the camp organizers about whether or not the traffic issues will have any impact on programming.
No one from the Lennoxville day camp was available to answer The Record’s questions about the impact of the bridge work but the Cultural Mediation Intern for the Foreman Art Gallery, Brenna Filion, said that the summer art camp on campus will try to be open to the challenges facing parents with regard to pick up and drop off.
"It is quite an unfortunate situation; I am sure it will be an inconvenience to many people. However, To my knowledge, the camp will not be making any adjustments as a result of the construction,” Fillion said, highlighting that the camp does offer extended daycare hours. ”I think it will be up to the parents to plan accordingly. It is possible, however, that there will be instances where 1) the children will come in late in the morning or 2) the animators will have to wait past five if a parent can't make it on time to pick up their child. We will have to work our way around these situations.”
A look at the City of Sherbrooke’s interactive map for road work in 2017 shows potential for a perfect storm of traffic trouble, in that three different work sites have been planned along the route that Lennoxville residents might use to detour around the bridge with Glenday closed. The map shows a plan to repave Saint Francis Street between Atto and Moulton Hill, a complete reconstruction of Bowen South between Lavigerie and Aubry Streets, and work to be done on the Galt Street Bridge.
Only the listing for the Bowen work includes any estimate of when the work will begin, with that extensive project planned to start in mid-may. As of press time The Record was still waiting on word from the City of Sherbrooke as to whether any of the other work will overlap with the bridge closure, but Lennoxville Borough President David Price said that the work on Saint-francis is not likely to take more than a day.
“It’s going to be a real mess in town,” Price said.
Though the traffic disruption is the most obvious result of bridge construction, the work will also have an impact on its neighbours.
Nadine Fafard, who lives right next to the bridge, said that the company that will be doing the work has asked for permission to park a crane and several palettes of material on her lawn.
“They’re going to float the materials down the river to the bridge,” Fafard said, adding that the company has committed to repairing any damage to the property after the work is complete.
Fafard noted that she has a permit to operate a bed and breakfast out of her home and said that while she still expects to be able to operate, she’s concerned about the experience any visitors might have while the work is going on.
“The guests won’t have a really good view,” she said.
On the Record’s Facebook page, reactions to the news ranged from exasperation at the bridge’s near constant need for repair, to frustration and outright anger on the part of those people for whom the brief bridge crossing is a regular part of the day, and finally for concern over the fact that frustrated pedestrians might opt to use the rail bridge as an alternative crossing.
“Bring in the army with a bridge layer,” Beliveau Dubois suggested, adding her voice to others calling for everything from a chartered shuttle bus to gas credits for those who have to make the long way around each day.