Bridge closure worries business owners

City plans to close Disraeli Bridge and Freeway during construction

Business owners in Elmwood are concerned the city’s plans to close the Disraeli bridges for 16 months for repairs will keep customers away and create major traffic disruptions.

“For sure, we’ll be losing customers,” said Steve Vodrazka, owner of Sonya’s Family Restaurant at the corner of Hart Avenue and Henderson Highway.

“It will be a disaster closing (the bridges).”

Vodrazka said with the Disraeli Bridge and Freeway closed, motorists will be clogging up residential streets to access other bridges, such as the Redwood, to get downtown.

This will reduce parking availability for customers, said Vodrazka, who has owned the restaurant for over 20 years.

Other business owners are equally concerned about the impending closure of Disraeli.

“People are going to be whipping down those side lanes like crazy,” said Dwight Rock, owner of Glenwood Motors on Hespeler Avenue.

Rock said traffic congestion is already an issue in the area.

“It’s brutal to try to get onto Hespeler from Glenwood Crescent,” he said. “To make a left turn at rush hour is almost impossible, never mind when Disraeli closes.”

The city plans to close the roadway next fall while it repairs corroded steel and decaying concrete and enhances accessibility and safety for pedestrians.

Public works spokesperson Ken Allen said the bridge has to be closed during construction to allow the concrete for the new deck to set properly and to reduce project costs.

That means the roughly 40,000 vehicles that take the route in and out of the downtown area will be re-routed over the two-lane Louise and Redwood bridges.

“It’s going to be a ghost town on Henderson Highway for businesses,” said Elmwood MLA Jim Maloway.

Maloway said that scenario could be prevented if the city built a two-lane bridge on the east side adjacent to the existing bridges while they are being renovated to prevent traffic from being diverted.

Then, after construction is completed, the two structures could be connected to create a six-lane bridge that matches up with the six lanes of traffic coming from both sides of the roadway.

Allen said traffic studies indicate there won’t be a need for six lanes for another 20 years. He added that two additional lanes could double the cost of the project, depending on the final design.

Maloway said he is concerned the city is trying to push the project through without properly consulting the public, adding three open houses were poorly attended.

The Disraeli rehabilitation project will cost between $125 and $160 million, depending on the design selected. The city is considering three different four-lane concepts.

The city’s public works committee will make its recommendation to city council this fall.