After much anticipation and worry, construction has resumed at Pointe-Claire’s Cartier Avenue.
The main street leading to the commercial district shut down for a couple of weeks, with work at a complete standstill after the contractor declared bankruptcy.
On Monday night, the city held an information session to update residents and business owners on the situation.
“Our goal is to try to get the sidewalks and the coat of asphalt on by Dec. 15,” Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere told Global News.
“There will be some work to be done in the spring, but we will get that done now so it’s open for the winter.”
The hope is that the avenue will be up and running for the holiday season’s shopping rush.
But some business owners say it’s too little too late and they’ve lost business already.
“There’s no access from Cartier at all, which usually gave me a lot of business starting in the fall: September, October, November,” said business owner Marie-France Belisle from Abat-Jour Marie-Elizabeth.
“Now we are already Dec. 4 and there’s nothing because no one can pass. It’s like a desert street, it’s like you’re in the country.”
She says at some point she had to ask her customers “to come back another day.”
READ MORE: Work site abandoned on Cartier Avenue in Pointe-Claire
“I’m still paying my taxes every month and they’re very expensive taxes in Pointe-Claire and I don’t know, they gotta do something for the business,” Belisle said.
The City of Pointe-Claire says it’s paying for billboards and ads to get the word out that the strip is open for business, despite the construction.
“Ads? For what? People can not access Cartier,” Belisle added.
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