On April 23, the orange steel cages went up to mark off the area on 101st Ave. (Main Street) between 101st Street and 102nd Street where work on the current phase $32.5 million Main Street Revitalization Project is currently underway and expected to go until Oct. 31.
It’s been a month since the orange, metal construction fences went up along a full block of Lac La Biche’s downtown business sector. It’s the second time in two years that a portion of the downtown has been cordoned off for the on-going $34.5 million Main Street Rejuvenation Project. The current phase of construction, replacing underground utilities and upgrading surface features, is expected to run until the end of October.
While the disruption to downtown businesses has been extensive, according to River McDonald at the Lac La Biche and District Chamber of Commerce office, to date – at least from what the organization has been told – businesses have been coping well amidst the ongoing work.
“From what we’ve heard so far, things are going fairly smoothly at this point… (we) haven’t heard of anything crazy for any issues just at this point though, but it’s kind of hard to tell…,” she told Lakeland This Week, expecting to get more information as the project moves along. “... (We’ll ) see how it goes.”
When the downtown project first began in May of last year, after two years of construction work had been completed on the western portion of 101 Avenue, outside the main business area, there had been worries and some frustrations. This time around, she said, there hasn’t been as many concerns raised.
Overall, McDonald hasn’t fielded many complaints from business owners. However, one issue that has come up is parking, more specifically, with merchants trying to find out exactly where parking for customers is supposed to be.
Going forward into the coming months-the local chamber of commerce, which represents roughly 100 businesses in the Lac La Biche area-is focused on ensuring that customer traffic stays up, that these establishments are still receiving customers, and are continuing to bring in revenue.
“That’s our main concern right now,” McDonald said.
The current phase of construction is slated to finish by October 31 — as long as weather conditions don't delay progress. The next phase of the project will see utility replacement and surface upgrades along 101 Avenue from 101 Street to 100 Street.
