Bristol Street is all torn up between Edinburgh Road to Holliday Street.
And while there are several homes, an office building, and two apartment buildings on the section being rebuilt, residents say the construction has not been a bane on their existence. Many say workers have gone out of their way to be courteous, and to ensure that access to homes is maintained.
Aging infrastructure under the road, which runs parallel with Waterloo Avenue to the north, and Wellington Street to the south, needed to replaced. Sanitary and storm sewer pipes, the water main, curbs, gutters and driveway aprons are being replaced.
It’s expected the work will be complete sometime in December.
On Friday, Peter Jaspers-Fayer and his small grandson Rowan were spectators near a large hole at Bristol and Yorkshire Street. A number of workers were congregated at the spot.
Jaspers-Fayer said his grandson asks to go down to the construction site everyday, and that’s what they do.
“The noise levels can get pretty high,” said Jaspers-Fayer, who lives a few houses down from the hole. “They found a lot of rock they didn’t expect and there’s been a lot of jack-hammering. The ground shakes.”
But like others, Jaspers-Fayer said the work has been fairly easy to live with.
“It’s not that bad,” said Rachael Lake, who lives in an apartment at 125 Raymond Street, the back parking lot of which is along Bristol. “They have done a pretty good job of maintaining the access, although sometimes it’s a guessing game over which access will be blocked from day to day.
She added that on Halloween night the construction company, J.G. Goetz Construction, put a large flood light on the street and ensured that it was cleared up and safe for trick-or-treaters.
One resident, who asked not to be named, said some garbage – food containers and coffee cups – are getting left on the ground along the construction site and later buried by heavy equipment passing over it. She’s not happy with that.
The same person said her vehicle has had three flat tires due to materials being left on the surface of the road. Otherwise, communications from the city and the company have been good, and the workers have been courteous, she said.
