The latest phase in Dundas Street East reconstruction gets underway next week. It means commuters and businesses alike could be faced with reduced lanes, detours and headaches for months. The ward councillor says it’s short-term pain for long-term gain. “Anyone can see, you know, we’ve tried to patch the best we can. Come winter, when the freeze-thaw cycle starts, those patches are not going to hold, and we’re going to be back to huge holes in this road that sees 30,000 vehicles a day traveling on it, so it has to get fixed now,” said Shawn Lewis, Deputy Mayor and councillor for ward two. Lewis says the days of bumpy rides through Argyle will soon be over. “And so, we are ripping out all the asphalt, going right down to the aggregate base layer, making the repairs to the base layer, repaving, switching to the other side, and doing the same thing all over again,” said Lewis. Beginning Monday, Dundas Street between Burdick Place and Beatrice Street will have reduced lanes in each direction while the road is reconstructed. “Two weeks notice, they give a letter and that’s all you get,” said auto repair shop owner, James Patrick. While businesses along Dundas will remain open, Patrick worries it will be hard for customers to get to his shop. “I think it’s a terrible idea to do it this time of year when you have Oxford all ripped up. People can’t get through at all. Shuts down the east end, a lot of businesses here. A lot of people that rely on traffic coming down Dundas. When they can’t, it hurts them,” he exclaimed. “It’s going to be tough on us. I need to make the numbers and make it happen to pay the guys,” added Tom Stewart, who also owns an auto shop in the neighbourhood. The city says sidewalks will be temporarily closed at times, and pedestrians detoured. Drivers are encouraged to find alternate routes, where possible. “It’s not good, it’s bad,” said driver Lloyd Youdell. “It’s been going on way too long. Way too long. Even the Highbury overpass, God knows when that will be open, they took the whole one side of it out,” he lamented. Work is expected to take eight to ten weeks and be completed in the fall.
