2nd summer of construction worries Bank St. businesses

As construction tears up Bank Street in Ottawa's downtown for the second summer in a row, the owners of nearby restaurants and shops say they may need the city's help to survive another season.

On Monday, construction crews shut down the road in the busy Bank Street commercial strip between Queen Street and Laurier Avenue West. They began slicing through the asphalt as part of a project to install new hydro and traffic light ducts, which is expected to continue until September.

The noise and dust of the site — filled with workers in hard hats and noisy machinery — is driving customers away from nearby businesses, restaurant and store owners say.

Vincent Liu said earnings at his restaurant, Teriyaki Plus, were cut in half last summer when the street was shut down for 4½ months so the city could install a new water main and communications structure underground.

"All the dust, all the noise created by construction — it's just killing the business," he said. "Two years in a row is very hard on us."

Liu said he will file a complaint with the city and wants to get other businesses on board.

Hussein Agour of the nearby Shawarma Laguna restaurant said he and his neighbours need help.

"We're asking the city to do something about it," he said. "To reduce our tax property to help out — just to make everybody survive."

Construction necessary, Coun. Doucet says

Ottawa city Coun. Clive Doucet defended the construction on Bank Street, saying it was necessary and would benefit businesses in the long run.

Currently, he said, the infrastructure in the area is so old that it is prone to burst pipes, flooding and erosion that leaves dangerous caverns under the asphalt.

"We got 100-year-old infrastructure, literally built back in the 1920s," he said.

"There is an expectation that if the streetscape is improved … then more people are inclined to come down Bank Street."