Here’s something you don’t hear very often: A road reconstruction project is running ahead of schedule.
Work on Sawmill Road through Conestogo began in April, and was expected to last until early November.
Dave Weiler, Waterloo Region’s head of transportation capital projects, says the work has gone a bit faster than anticipated. As a result, Sawmill could be fully reopened by mid-to-late October.
Crews are working to redo the water infrastructure below Sawmill and resurface the roadway itself, creating more space for cyclists in the process.
The work has been done in stages, with each stage closing a different part of Sawmlll. Currently, the closure extends from Misty River Drive eastward to the bridge over the Grand River.
With any part of the road closed to through traffic, the usual stream of drivers using Sawmill to travel between Waterloo and Guelph has dried up.
That’s particularly troubling for Heidi Ortmeyer, who owns Rumble Tum Café and Gifts on Sawmill.
She says her customer counts dropped by more than 50 per cent once construction started. Among other factors, she blames the loss of commuter traffic. In June, she decided to close down her shop for the summer.
Ortmeyer’s café reopened earlier this month. Business has still been quiet, although not as bad as it was in the spring.
“Once the bridge is open … I think people will come back,” she says.
Down the street at Auburn Vintage Clothiers, owner Rachel Kaufman-Bahling calls construction’s impact on her business “devastating” and says she’s less sure that people will return to Conestogo once the project wraps up.
Kaufman-Bahling says her customers have told her that the detours and signs are confusing.
“I get a lot of phone calls asking what the best way to get here is,” she says.
Weiler says the three-phase approach to construction was chosen in an attempt to minimize the disruption to businesses.
With reporting by Katarina Milicevic
