Summerside Big Dig finally done

Summerside's $2 million Big Dig is finally over, a month and a half behind schedule.

The replacement of some the city's water and sewer pipes shut down much of Water Street for more than four months.

"It was a difficult few months, you know, for the downtown businesses, but when you get renovating a street that's over a hundred years old, they ran into some things that created some problems," said Mayor Basil Stewart.

After the old pipes were replaced, the city made the sidewalks wider and added trees and lights. The street is now open again, but workers are still putting some finishing touches on the project.

Business owners there just hope they'll still be able to draw customers back for the Christmas season.

"As far as walk-by traffic is concerned, I don't know, I think it'll be a while before people get used to coming down here again," said Phillip Sullivan, owner of Jewellery Plus.

All of the shops on Water Street stayed open for business, even while the street was closed.

"It was pretty frustrating, I mean you'd see a hole dug and filled back in and you'd think ‘OK they're good, they're close to being done,’ and the next day they're digging up seems like the same hole again," Sullivan said.

"You just have to deal with it and that's what we've all been doing," said Lynn Nicholson, who works for Crockett's Quality Jewellers. "All the businesses down here have been dealing with it the best way we know how."

Samuel’s Coffee Shop opened in the middle of the project.

Its owner says the end of the big dig may signal a new beginning for downtown Summerside.

"This is exactly what we needed, a nice facelift to encourage other businesses like myself to start up new businesses downtown," said Moyna Murphy-Matheson.

Work is nearly complete, the city has just one more coat of asphalt to put on this spring.