Halifax restaurant to shut down amid summer road work

Instead of dealing with the headache of summer road work, the owner of a Halifax pizza shop is deciding instead to shut down for the rest of the season. 

Eleven weeks of work is expected to begin Saturday on busy St. Margarets Bay Road as new curbs and sidewalks are installed, aging water infrastructure is replaced and new asphalt is laid. Heritage Gas will also install natural gas infrastructure.

Commuters will start to feel the pain on Monday morning, but businesses like Nick Giannopoulos's Euro Pizza are already feeling it.  

'Major disruption'

"I think it's a major disruption," said Chris Salsman, an employee of Euro Pizza. "Even when we stayed open during other projects it took a long time for the numbers to recover, for the customers to start coming back."

All the work will happen on the section of St. Margarets Bay Road between Douglas Drive and Quarry Road. But in order to get it all done in the allotted time frame, Cumberland Paving and Contracting is forcing commuters to detour.

Commuters headed to the peninsula will have to exit at Albert Walker Drive.

While the road will be off limits to commuters, local traffic will still get through. Patrons of businesses that unlike Euro Pizza have opted to remain open will also still have access.

"Eleven weeks is a long time and it'll be very inconvenient for a long time but the payoff is going to be huge," said Shawn Cleary, municipal councillor for the area.

It's work, he said, that can't be put off.

"As with any city with old infrastructure, you've got to deal with it eventually and now is the time to deal with it," he said.

"Hopefully the payback will be significant enough for most people that they'll be able to say, 'You know what? Summer of 2017 was a bit inconvenient but man, we have some great infrastructure as a result."

'11 weeks is a long time'

Blake Sampson's Autopro shop is across the street from Euro Pizza. He has no plans to close up shop but he's worried about what kind of access delivery trucks will have to his business. 

"We have our suppliers that deliver parts to us every day so they're going to be tied up in traffic so it means delays," Sampson said. "It's definitely going to affect our business."

He said he understands why the work needs to happen, but he's concerned about the length of time required to do the job.

"It's just too bad that it has to be tied up for so long, but there's nothing we can do about it. Eleven weeks is a long time," he said.

Penalties if work is delayed

Cleary said the contractor will face fines if the work isn't finished within the 11-week window.

Michael Chapman, who lives on Baker Drive, said he's used to construction delays in the summer, although none quite like this. 

"It's going to be hard to get in and out, and also it's very inconvenient during the summertime," he said. "It happens every year, but it's going to get worse this year."

The city is asking commuters and people who do business along St. Margarets Bay Road to be patient and is directing them to the city's website for more information.