‘This will never end’: Businesses frustrated by construction of Stony Plain Road – Edmonton
Businesses are growing increasingly frustrated as work continues on the Valley Line West LRT.
What they noticed most was the lack of progress, which they said left them struggling to stay afloat.
Many businesses along Stony Plain Road said they are waiting for a clear timeline for construction of the Valley Line LRT.
“The chorus starts with ‘When is this going to happen’ and ‘It will never end,'” said Brandon Schatz, president of the Stony Plain Road Business Association.
“This side of the road was supposed to be finished last year, then we were promised it this spring. We are now at the end of September and we are promised something for October.
Work for the Valley Line is being carried out by Marigold Infrastructure Partners. For two years, part of the road has been torn up.
“This has had a terrible impact on my business: Sales are about half of what they should be and there seems to be no end in sight,” said Dennis Aronyk, owner of Revolution Cycle.
Aronyk said the majority of his customers point out how difficult it is to get to the store and park nearby.
“The road right in front of us was supposed to be paved in August. It’s still just a big gaping hole,” he said.
The Stony Plain Road Business Association said many of its members were growing frustrated as they noticed construction was moving at a very slow pace.
“I can probably count small periods of time on both hands over the last couple of years where I’ve seen work done for a considerable amount of time here, a few days in a row,” Schatz said.
Pihêsiwin Council district. Tim Cartmell has heard from residents about traffic delays and roadblocks in the city’s west end. He said city staff can enforce deadlines, but not much more.
“When you have a construction site that takes up 12 or 14 kilometers of road from the center to the outskirts of the city, there are going to be interruptions. The city leaves it up to the contractor to determine what the sequence of work will be,” Cartmell said.
In a statement to PKBNEWS, Marigold Infrastructure Partners acknowledged construction fatigue.
“Our goal is to ensure the construction process goes as smoothly as possible for businesses and the community, and we remain committed to working collaboratively to address any concerns and complete these projects on time,” it reads in the press release.
For now, area residents remain worried, like Yuksel Gultekin who said his business has lost much of its visibility due to the road closure.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be great, there’s going to be more exposure and there’s going to be more people here,” said Gultekin, owner of ARPA Butchery. “But (it’s) a matter of survival until then.”
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