Only five weeks into the road work on Montreal’s most iconic commercial street complaints are mounting about the slow progress.
Rebuilding and modernizing a three block stretch of Ste-Catherine street is scheduled to take two years.
Some merchants in the area argue that’s too long.
Andréa Peter is the co-manager of UNION, a retail store on Ste-Catherine street in the heart of the construction.
He complains business is down more than 50 percent since work began.
“A lot of people don’t know we are here. If you just walk on the street, you just turn your head and you see the store, but with the construction it’s really difficult,” Peter told Global News.
One city councillor says additional work shifts should be added at night and during the weekends.
“There should have been a provision for work to be done at periods of time that are non-peak,” Alan DeSousa, the Borough Mayor of St-Laurent, told Global News.
It’s a point some residents agree with.
“That would be important in places that are in high tourism and shopping. I think it’s important to get the work done,” Marilyn Fitzpatrick, visiting from Saskatchewan, told Global News.
City officials have told Global News in the past that they can’t add additional shifts due to a labour shortage, and construction work at night would be too disruptive for people who live in the area.
This project is expected to last until 2025 and then work to rebuild and modernize other blocks of Sainte-Catherine Street will begin.