Fredericton business owners paying the price of construction

Business owners in Fredericton say construction is affecting business across the city, and some are finding it difficult to pay their bills.

Edible Arrangements is located uptown in a plaza at the intersection of Regent and Prietsman streets, where construction has been going on since June 1. Owner Karli Ellis says even getting into the parking is a struggle some days because one entrance is completely blocked off while the other is reduced as crews direct traffic in the area.

READ MORE: Concerns loom over massive summer road projects as city tries to minimize impacts

Ellis says the limited access is affecting business and that she’s seeing a drop in sales from last year.

“I can understand why people are kind of avoiding the area,” Ellis said.

With rent and wages still coming out, Ellis says it’s been tough.

“This is a pretty big obstacle to overcome, being my only two years in business right now,” Ellis said.

City of Fredericton traffic engineer Jon Lewis says the projects are going according to schedule and uptown construction should be completed by August 31, 2016.

Lewis says the city is doing its best to work with businesses and has strategically placed signs in the construction zones to notify drivers on how to access businesses.

Downtown businesses also affected

Businesses in the city’s downtown are also frustrated with construction. According to the general manager of Downtown Fredericton Inc., Bruce McCormack, construction comes at cost to business.

“There’s construction all throughout the city, so it’s a concern I think to all businesses — to make sure that their customers can find them and can get close enough to park to get into the stores,” McCormack said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's construction all throughout the city, so it's a concern I think to all businesses — to make sure that their customers can find them and can get close enough to park to get into the stores," McCormack said.

McCormack says communication with the city is key ensuring businesses are aware of closures and alternate routes.

“Our organization does what we can to help and to facilitate and mediate between the city and the businesses themselves, so it’s important that everybody knows the businesses are still open,” McCormack said.

Owner of The King Street Ale House Doug Williams tells Global News he’s also noticed that people avoid coming into his restaurant when main streets are shutdown. King and Carleton streets were closed over the weekend after contractors working in the area hit a gas line.

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Downtown construction near the Ale House is set to end this week.

“It’ll just be great to have it finished and have just normal traffic back.  It’ll be a great thing, and it’s supposed to be sunny this week too, so I think we can win on both counts,” Williams said.