Downtown Lethbridge businesses owners frustrated by construction delays

Downtown Lethbridge construction underway for 7 Street South and 4 Avenue South.

Business owners in downtown Lethbridge are becoming increasingly frustrated with an ongoing construction project that may bite into their holiday profits.

Road work has shut down portions of Seventh Street South and Fourth Avenue South since early August.

Now, approximately three months later, the work is still underway, leaving business owners to worry how how it will impact holiday shopping.

"From the Aug. 10 to Sept. 25, I believe it was, we were completely shut down, so there was no parking on our road, period," said John Pyska, owner of Big John’s Books.

"People had to walk here and it was horrible."

Pyska said he and other business owners in the area have seen foot traffic and sales drop. 

Construction was tentatively scheduled to finish on Oct. 31, but it still isn’t completed.

CTV News reached out to the City of Lethbridge to ask how much longer construction is expected to last, but no one was able to confirm when the work would be finished.       

"At first it was almost zero information from them," said Pyska. "Now they send us emails on the updates. Of course, it's the never-ending project. 

"It's obviously not getting done that quickly."

"We're coming into our busiest season where we need the most amount of people," said Ian Gauthier, owner of Boarderline skate shop.

"This is kind of supporting our whole shop for the whole year, and there's still construction going on outside, so it's not good."

While business owners are frustrated now, they're optimistic about the future.  

There's belief that the project, which includes pavement rehabilitation, protected bike lanes and water line renewal, could help increase foot traffic.

"I’m very pro the project," said Brad Gadd, owner of The Populess Co. "I think it's great, I think it's another way to invite cyclists and just open up downtown, but it just could've been done, in my opinion, in a more timely manner."

The City of Lethbridge said it will update residents and business owners once a timeline for completion has been established.