St. John's finally starts 5-year downtown infrastructure project

Monday marked the first day of a major downtown St. John's infrastructure project, one that's been nearly four years in the making — and will take five years to finish.

It's a scaled-down version of the project once informally called the "Big Dig," and will be less invasive than a plan that originally called for sections of Water Street to be closed entirely to traffic.

The original plan was modified after downtown business owners expressed fears that such a disruption would do irreparable damage to their stores and restaurants.

"It was going to be much more significant in terms of how much we dug up out of the ground and stuff, because we were going to replace pipes," said Coun. Dave Lane.

"Since then, after talking with business owners and really researching what sort of technology's available, now we're going to do what's called 'trenchless' technology. So we're not going to dig up the pipes; we're going to be able to line most of them. There'll still be some digging but it'll feel more like regular roadwork that you would experience anywhere in the city."

Construction began Monday at the intersection of Queen and Water streets, the first phase in the rehabilitation of downtown's underground infrastructure, and will continue on Water Street between Waldegrave Street and Bishop's Cove, Monday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Queen Street will be closed to traffic from George Street to Water Street for at least three to four weeks, according to the city, and traffic on Water Street will be reduced to one lane at times. Phase 1 is expected to be done by July 1.

Some owners are still worried about the scaled-down work, but now that the work has begun, others are more optimistic.

Tara O'Reilly, owner of the newly opened Yes B'y's bar on Queen Street, says it'll be a challenge, but nothing she can't handle.

"I am no stranger to an obstacle, at this point," she said.

"We went to take over the place back in November, and I thought it was going to be a turn-key operation, which was not the case at all, so it's kind of obstacle after obstacle after obstacle, and we just kept hurdling them and getting over them and getting through them, so this is just another one of those obstacles that we're going to have to deal with now and hope to get through."

She hopes the work won't deter foot traffic and jokes that the bar might even attract some customers from among the work crews.

"Hopefully we can make some new friends with the people working here. I suppose if people want to come for a drink after work or something then we'll get some new clientele that way. It is what it is at this point, right?"