Construction continues on 17 Avenue and it’s not ending anytime soon but the City of Calgary is hoping to make improvements to the process.
Ward 11 Coun. Jeremy Farkas is calling on Calgarians to come to city hall on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. and speak about their traffic woes due to any construction in the southwest.
Road and utility construction on 17 Avenue S.W. began Monday between 8 Street and 10A Street S.W., with local detours in place. Work will continue along to 14 Street S.W. in mid-May to
complete the final and third phase of planned renovations that began in 2017.
Farkas wants an open discussion with people and city councillors to figure out the best way to get construction work done around the city with a reduced impact on the people living and working nearby.
“I’m definitely concerned,” Farkas said Tuesday. “The question becomes around doing too much at once and I think there’s a certain area, especially in the southwest where I think perhaps the city has bitten off a little bit more than it can chew. Or at least we can use the valuable input from residents.”
Farkas is proposing further adjustments to construction planning.
“I want them to be really strategic, go block by block if necessary, rather than closing several blocks at a time,” Farkas said.
For the people Global News spoke to that own businesses or work along 17 Avenue S.W. — where the roads are currently blocked off — it seems that restaurants are being hit the hardest.
“Sometimes I thought the windows would shatter because it was so loud,” Colleen Vice, a server at Nellie’s, said. “It just seems that our business has suffered because of it, because people that are regular customers don’t know how to get here.”
Vice wants the city to make up for losses.
“They have to get their act together and give us a timeline, give us compensation for the lost revenue that we’ve suffered,” Vice said.
Farkas sent out a post about Wednesday’s notice of motion on his Facebook page, referring to it as preventing traffic chaos and ensuring public safety in southwest Calgary.