Image

Petrolia Line open again while business considers the costs of summer construction

December 3, 2015

It didn’t take long for traffic to start zipping along the new pavement on Petrolia Line, but it may take longer for businesses in the core to recover from the effects of this phase of construction.

After months of work, Birnam Construction crews put down the last bits of asphalt Tuesday as the temperature climbed to four Celsius. By 6 pm, the fences were down and the cars and trucks were on the streets almost immediately as Town of Petrolia officials announced the news of the reopening via social media.

The construction of the first phase of the $4.5 million reconstruction of the main street has, at times seemed like a long process. Birnham had the majority of the paving completed by Friday after a burst of warm weather, but the entrance to side streets remained unpaved until Monday when the temperature climbed enough for the work to be complete.

The company started work later than anticipated and ended up paying the town about $9,000 in fees – $1,000 for every day past deadline the street wasn’t done.

But there was a bigger cost to the project. Downtown merchants all agreed the work was absolutely necessary and that town staff and officials from the Volunteer Business Group did the best they could but the delays and disruptions hurt.

Some merchants, like Weiland’s Meat Market, said their regular customers found their way into the shop through back routes but sales did slow slightly in November.

Sharon McKinley of The Olive Tree hopes most of her regulars continued to shop, but says throughout construction her sales lagged – some weeks sales were at the same level as when she started 20 years ago.

When asked if she could put a figure on what’s she’s lost, McKinley quickly says “thousands.

“I give credit to Denise (Thibeault head of the Volunteer Business Group and liaison with the town for the project) and Laurissa (Ellsworth the town’s director of marketing); they started telling us a year in advance to get ready,” she says. “It was just the last three weeks when we all said, ‘we’re fed up.’

“It was long and far more than any of us expected.”

Perhaps those facing the biggest challenges were restaurants. Christine Heffer owns The Last Course next to The Olive Tree.

The biggest issue was water interruptions – health regulations say restaurants must close if they don’t have running water.

Heffer says she understands sometimes the unexpected interruptions were unavoidable but there were planned shutdowns which she needed earlier notice so she could cancel reservations.

And this month, as the construction dragged on, she missed valuable foot traffic from the theatre crowd which has returned for the Christmas shows. “The month of November was really bad – it should be picking up again with the plays but the construction made it difficult.

“I brought in extra staff because were supposed to be busy because of the plays but we’re just not getting the traffic. They would be out there, but the construction was just hard to get around.

“It needed to be done, the fact that it went over and being that its Christmas time…we want to have as much traffic then – when it was hard to get around, people were just not there.”

Both McKinley and Heffer have some advice for merchants between Fletcher and Eureka Streets who will be in the same situation next summer as they were this year; plan ahead and try to encourage customers to find your back door.

And Heffer suggests the town could make the experience a little easier by providing maps to merchants to hand out to customers so they can give clear directions to get around the construction.

Share This

Image
Front Page

Forest Kiwanis hope a mandarin, apple and cucumber can raise some cash for Kineto

February 7, 2025

Heather Wright/The Independent “Why would somebody give 6.2 million for a banana on the wall?” That’s what Forest’s Jose Van Haastert thought after seeing what a crypto billionaire paid for a piece of conceptual art with a banana on the wall. Her family talked about the massive price tag for the art over Christmas. But the idea got Van Haastert,

Read More

Image
News

New scholarship program at Great Lakes created in honour of late Sarnia judge

February 7, 2025

Students in St. Clair Township and Sarnia will be able to apply for a new scholarship program, named in honour of an Ontario Court Justice from Sarnia. The Sarnia Community Foundation says the family of the late Anne McFadyen has set up an annual scholarship program, similar to LCCVI’s Nicol Scholarships. It will honour five graduating students from Great Lakes

Read More

Front Page

Driver taken to hospital after Inwood accident

February 7, 2025

An Alvinston woman had to be taken to hospital after an accident near Inwood Monday. Lambton OPP have yet to release any details about the crash Monday morning which occurred during foggy conditions. Witnesses say two vehicles, a van and large pickup truck, collided at the corner of Inwood and Shiloh Line Monday morning. The van was T-boned. Brooke-Alvinston Fire

Read More

Image
Sports

LCCVI on top of girls high school hockey standings

February 7, 2025

LCCVI moved into a first place tie with Chatham-Kent Secondary School in girls’ high school hockey this week with a 2-1 win over the Golden Hawks in Chatham. The Lancers are 2-0-2 in the south division this season. The regular season wraps up late next week. Playoff dates have yet to be announced.

Read More