It was one of the first streets to be affected by Ion-related construction, and now it’s one of the first to reopen – sort of.
Caroline Street in uptown Waterloo reopened to traffic this week between William Street and Father David Bauer Drive.
Between William and Allen streets, it’s only open in one direction.
Regardless, that’s good news for businesses in the area.
“We’re not through the hump as yet, but certainly we have vehicular traffic and that’s amazing for all of these businesses,” Patti Brooks, executive director of the Uptown Waterloo BIA, said in an interview.
That includes the Red House restaurant at William and Caroline, where construction noise and dirt made for a less than ideal patio season.
Sommelier manager Rebecca Pettigrew says all the construction at times made restaurant staff feel “barricaded,” but the situation improved as construction commenced elsewhere.
“Now that the entire city is under construction, people are a lot more forgiving,” she said.
While the underground work on Caroline has finished, there are still some crews for construction crews to take care of.
“What’s left is actually laying the track, and making sure that all the infrastructure is in place to run the train,” said GrandLinq spokesperson Avril Fisken.
That project, which includes some work under the intersection of Caroline and Erb streets, will stretch into 2016.
In the meantime, some construction work is shifting to King Street.
King has been closed between Union and Allen streets for some time, and that closure will now be extended northward to William.
It won’t go any further this year, as GrandLinq agreed not to work in the uptown core during the holiday shopping season.
