Downtown Edmonton businesses frustrated over multiple construction projects

Some downtown Edmonton businesses in the area of 102 Avenue and 106 Street are voicing their frustration over the ongoing projects in the area.

One business is telling CityNews they’ve been losing customers as a result of traffic disruptions.

“We’ve literally been having patients calling, saying, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t get down there. I’ve gotta cancel my appointment,'” said Timothy Moffitt, with Custom Orthopedic.

Moffitt says they’ve lost about 20 to 30 per cent of customers due to multiple construction projects happening in the area at the same time.

“All of our walk-by traffic that we would have had for summer sandals, nothing this year. And we did not order very many winter boots either because we figured with that way, that the construction is, and how the city’s response has been to any of the complaints that we’d had here has been useless,” Moffitt explained.

His business is surrounded by different construction projects, including the Valley Line West LRT drainage work on 102 Avenue, between 102 Street and 107 street.

Just a block away from custom orthopedics, 105th Street northbound, along Jasper Avenue, also goes down to one lane due to a private construction project on the Coast Hotel. 106 Street is also closed between Jasper Avenue and 102 Avenue as part of the Warehouse Park Project.

“It seems a little closed in and restricted that some of our patrons have difficulty getting in,” said Dallas Archand, the co-owner of Kakio Studio Café.

Businesses say they’d like to receive better communication when it comes to projects like these.

Councillor Anne Stevenson, who represents the area, says she asked city staff to look into having a notification system to get information out to residents and businesses.

“Information sharing is really critically important. The other option that we have is my colleague, previously councillor knack now mayor knack has also been pushing for financial compensation for businesses that are impacted. Something we didn’t get a majority support in council but something to continue to revisit,” said Stevenson.

Archand, who’s opening a new business in the area, says while the construction doesn’t affect him yet, he hopes to see clear paths before their grand opening in December.

“A clear path to Jasper Avenue and a clear path for patrons and traffic to get through to places that they want to go, like these businesses. It’ll be nice to see a steady flow of traffic back to normal again.”