A section of a major road in Saint John will be closed for the next four months as part of the city’s Safe, Clean Drinking Water Project, but with it comes an impact on businesses that line the road.
Westmorland Road is an important link to the city’s busy east side retail district and is home to a number of businesses itself.
One of those is Nelson Monuments which sells headstones. This company is dealing with the road closure in its own way by relocating out of the construction zone for the next four months.
“People are going to have a tendency to stay right away from the construction zone, especially the people we deal with who are mostly seniors and so if there’s construction they’re going to stay away,” said Bonnie Armstrong.
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Armstrong said the decision to move is a costly one.
“We have to rent two places right now,” she said. “Hopefully it will draw the people to this new location for the next four months and it will compensate for it.”
But the construction hasn’t been bad for everyone.
One of those businesses is A Liz A Beth’s Flower Shop, which says Port City Water Partners — who is doing the road work — has been very cooperative.
“When we told them it was prom week and we had all kinds of kids coming, they made sure that the kids could get in and back out with their flowers,” said company spokesperson Carolyn Dignard.
Overall, there seems to be agreement that business will take a hit, but the end result is a necessary one.
“It’s going to be affected, no doubt about it, but we’re going to make the best of it,” Dignard said.
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Armstrong added: “We can’t control the road construction and we do need the new water line, so we just have to roll with the punches.”
Even though the road is closed to through traffic local traffic is being permitted to access homes and businesses.