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Downtown Lethbridge construction; ‘it’s going to have some great long-term benefits’

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Downtown Lethbridge construction: ‘it’s going to have some great long-term benefits’
WATCH ABOVE: Construction season is in full swing across our city and nowhere is that more apparent these days than in the downtown. As Erik Bay tells us, the short-term pain is setting up for long-term gain. – Jun 23, 2021

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.

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“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.

“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.”

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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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