As construction is underway on the 11th Avenue Revitalization project in downtown Regina, some local businesses worry about how the traffic will disrupt their customer traffic.
One of the owners of Comic Readers said the people who work downtown are important to his store.
“The office workers and the people that work in the mall or work in other stores, those are customers of mine,” he said. “So, without them, the store wouldn’t exist downtown.”
The co-owner of Mortise and Tenon, a modern-day eco-friendly general store, said losing foot traffic downtown has impacted their business and other small businesses as well.
“We depend on people walking by and seeing something that intrigues them and being able to come in, even if they don’t know anything about our business,” Dani Hackel said. “It’s been a rough year in retail to start with…. The businesses are what keep downtown vibrant.”
The revitalization project is going into its second year of construction, with the City of Regina building a more vibrant community. According to the city, SaskPower and SaskTel will be leading most of the construction on 11th Avenue in 2024.
“This four-year construction project will upgrade the roads, sidewalks, lighting and aging underground infrastructure on 11th Avenue between Albert Street and Broad Street,” a release from the city stated. “As part of the 2024 construction, all bus stops on 11th Avenue between Albert Street and Broad Street are temporarily moving to Victoria Avenue, Lorne Street, 12th Avenue and Albert Street.”
The temporary stops took effect on Sunday and will remain in place throughout construction season. Details of the temporary stop locations can be viewed on the Regina city transit website.
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