MONTREAL — Work on pipes beneath Decarie Boulevard starting Wednesday is threatening to make a bad traffic situation worse.
The work is scheduled to take place between Cote-St-Luc Boulevard and Monkland Avenue — and it won’t just affect traffic.
“We depend a lot on foot traffic,” said Arianna Ambler, who works as a waitress at Le Bievre, a bar situated on the southbound lane of Decarie Boulevard.
“And we didn’t really know that we were going to have construction out front, and it has affected our business. Yesterday we had virtually no one come in.”
City officials say the work is necessary to shore the pipes up after two successive breaks, one in 2011 and the other in 2012, that flooded the area.
The southbound lane of the boulevard is already whittled down into one lane for construction that was supposed to wrap up in early October. That lane will shrink considerably, as pedestrians and cars will have to share the sidewalk.
READ MORE: More construction for Decarie Interchange
The manager of Ambler’s bar said the city needs to do a better job of coordinating public works.
“Nobody has notified us, you know the first people I’d notify would be ourselves,” said Margot Bussiere.
Workers will put temporary asphalt down to raise the level of the road to the curb, closing the street for about two hours starting at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
“We know that we have to intervene in this section, and this doesn’t happen without inconvenience,” said Aref Salem, the executive committee member for transport. Other officials were on the defensive during the announcement.
“Look, I know the level of frustration, I live here,” said Russell Copeman the borough mayor of Cote-des-Neiges-NDG.
Copeman said drivers heading toward the 20 West, the Champlain Bridge or the Bonaventure Expressway should get there via Girouard.
But, he added, a driver trying to get to the 720 East from inside NDG is going to end up stuck in traffic.
Officials are suggesting motorists avoid the area entirely during the five days of work.
Work on the pipes is scheduled to end Sunday.
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