By Shawnee Rocchetti
[1]Business owners near North Front St. and Tracey St. in Belleville have been disrupted by nearby construction this summer. Photo by Shawnee Rocchetti.
Local businesses have mixed feelings about the construction at the North Front and Tracey Street intersection in Belleville.
Construction began on September 12 and is expected to be completed by the end of October.
The repaving is causing lanes to be redirected and entrances to businesses to be blocked causing a drop in customers and sales for some.
Derek Dowling, an employee of the Rogers store said business has been hurt. “This is supposed to be a busy time with college students and back to school but we have had almost no customers,” he said.
Head office for the Rogers store has begun ordering road signs to let people know that they are still open, as well as offering a $50 bill credit for all new activations.
Jeffrey Camacho, owner of Burger Revolution, however is using it as a way of advertising.
“We thought that is might affect us but so far it hasn’t,” said Camacho. “We try to look on the bright side of it stopping traffic and showing people that we are still open.”
Ray Ford, manager of engineering for the City of Belleville said in an email interview “the project is needed to address the poor pavement condition and delays to traffic caused by left-turning vehicles; therefore the road will be widened to add left-turn lanes and the intersection will be repaved.“
The project will improve pavement conditions as well as delays to traffic by adding a left-turning lane at the intersection. Sanitary sewers and storm sewers are both being upgraded as well to address operational and maintenance concerns while also increasing the capacity of a section of pipe that would limit further growth and redevelopment on Front Street.
The cost for this project is approximately $1.5 million and is funded by the City of Belleville as well as the Ministry of Transportation. Parts of the resurfacing costs are being subsidized by the Ministries Connecting Link Program. This program provides funding to municipalities to assist with road construction, maintenance, and repairs.