MEDICINE HAT, AB — Many drivers are already counting down to the end of construction season, even though its only been a few weeks.
And they aren’t alone.
Several businesses along South Railway Street are bracing for the second phase of construction to begin on the project which is expected to last into the fall.
Many owners say they know people are avoiding Scholten Hill and it’s already affecting their bottom line.
One business owner has already said he won’t be open at his South Railway location this year.
“I love people, even the ones that are grumpy,” said Wade Cazes, owner of Cazes’ Fruit Stand. “Everyone has a story and one thing I’ve learned over the years is they’re not grumpy at me, they’re just grumpy at life.”
Cazes wouldn’t blame his customers this year, considering all of the construction happening outside his fruit stand.
He made the decision not to open the stand on the street this year, but will be set up in the Leon’s parking lot instead.
“My wife really wanted me to open it up here but I have to look at the costs involved just to open the doors,” he said. “You’re looking at several thousand dollars just to get set-up, just to start.”
Cazes has been in the business since he was 12.
Fast-forward nearly 40 years and he’s still selling cherries, peaches and even ice cream. But he said it hasn’t always been easy.
“Everything changes, there’s no stability,” he said. “We’ve been pushed around quite a bit. That’s why we bought this location, to have a more permanent fixture in Medicine Hat after so many years.”
Sandeep Pareek with the city said crews will begin phase two of the project in the next two weeks, the same time Cazes would have opened his fruit stand for the season.
“They say the flow is going to be steady, the flow is steady,” Cazes said. “But it’s not the volume that we had on a normal daily basis before.”
Crews have set up a traffic light, in place of assigning a flag person, to help move traffic through the area.
“It’s more precise and more accurate and it functions very well for this particular condition,” Pareek said.
The traffic light is on a time and it’s held longer during peak times of the day.
Cazes said it may keep traffic moving, but people are still avoiding the area altogether.
“I never use to avoid this road, I always drive by here, this is my normal way but that extra five, 10 minutes, it’s inconvenient,” Cazes said.
Pareek said it shouldn’t add more than a minute or two to anyone’s commute, but he understands the frustration anytime anyone sees a red light.
“You’re driving through a construction zone so you’d be reduced to 30 kilometres an hour anyways,” he said.
Without the fruit stand, Cazes said he won’t be able to sell ice cream like he has in previous years.
“My kids are so unhappy that we’re not going to have ice cream this year,” he said. “I am too! I lost extra weight over the winter so I could have ice cream this year.”
