Portage Avenue construction another challenge for businesses
Road work is needed, but business owners wonder if there's a more efficient way to complete it
If the partial lockdown wasn't enough, business owners along a section of Winnipeg's Portage Avenue have to look forward to three months of barricades and construction crews.
The road and sidewalk work, running from St. James Street to Moorgate Street, comes at a cost of $5.15 million, and is expected to be completed by late July.
HM Surplus owner Wendy Speary usually sells the most product at her Portage Avenue military surplus store when interest in camping and hiking is the highest — typically starting in May.
With provincial public health orders, she's tightly restricted in the number of customers she can have at one time, and the parking in front of her store has given way to backhoes and barricades.
"You add the two things together and it's almost completely dead. It's almost pointless to be here. Because you can't park. No one is driving through. It's really frustrating," Speary said.
She says she understands the work needs to be done, but wonders if there are ways for it to be done quicker — perhaps by working a few hours in the evening.
"Like, 8 o'clock at night is still light. You don't have to worry about that. You can still get home to see your family and things like that," Speary said.
A few blocks west on Portage Avenue, Provincial Coin and Stamp owner Al Knapp agrees with Speary — the work needs to be done, but a few more hours each day could shorten the time for the construction project.
Knapp has gone to Minneapolis countless times for business trips and sees crews there working late on some roads.
"They're working at night. It could be 11, 12 o'clock at night and they got trucks out there with the lights and they are working all night long," Knapp said.
The business owner also wonders why there can't be some shifts on Saturdays and Sundays as well.
"There are not as many people out and about, and it would be safer for them [the construction crews] and so on also," Knapp said.
A spokesperson for the City of Winnipeg's public works department told CBC News before the work begins, the city and the contractor look closely at ways of staging and compressing the overall work schedule.
How the job is done though is ultimately up to the construction companies that win the contracts to do the work.
"As weather conditions permit, crews will typically work a 12-hour day during the construction season; it is ultimately up to the contractor to meet the completion target and critical milestones," wrote the spokesperson in an email.
Working past certain hours on Portage Avenue appears to be something the city won't consider.
"Due to its proximity to residential areas and noise concerns, work hours won't be extended into the night," said the spokesperson.
