Detours and delays are par for the course during construction season, and downtown Lethbridge is seeing its fair share of work, with major projects on 3 Avenue and 6 Avenue.
However, downtown BRZ interim executive director Melissa Johnson says the work is worth the small inconvenience.
“Certainly a short-term challenge for some of the businesses,” Johnson said. “However, it’s going to have some great long-term benefits to our downtown core.”
3 Avenue will reopen between 7 Street and 8 Street in a couple of weeks, as construction on the streetscaping project moves to 4 Street, continuing to make the avenue more pedestrian friendly.
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“Once the roads reopen there will still be a few spot closures happening, where they’re finishing a bit of concrete work, some of the landscaping,” City of Lethbridge senior transportation project administrator Crystal Scheit said.
“At least the public will have the roadway reopen and some of the parking reopen as well.”
Meanwhile, those using 6 Avenue as part of their commute won’t see lane closures and orange cones much longer, as the project is expected to be complete in mid-July.
Scheit says both projects are progressing well.
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“We’ve been really lucky with weather this year,” Scheit said.
“We had a bit of rain earlier in the season that maybe delayed for us for a few days but otherwise, we’ve been on schedule and things are moving nicely.”
Johnson says the updated infrastructure, especially along 3 Avenue, will attract more foot traffic and ideally, more entrepreneurs.
“Having the walkability in the downtown core really provides us the ability to be on a stage that nobody else in the downtown core has,” Johnson said.
“It makes it really enticing for businesses to come down here.”
The 3 Avenue project is expected to be complete in the fall and no other major projects are scheduled downtown this summer.
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