OLDS — The impact to nearby businesses of road closure during railway track improvements on Highway 27 in Olds last Wednesday and Thursday is mixed, according to businesses contacted by the Albertan.
An employee of one business says it had a noticeable negative impact. The owner of another says it doesn’t seem to have affected her business at all.
The work, undertaken May 22 and 23, involved removing a section of track at the Highway 27 crossing near 50th Avenue.
That older track was replaced with a new section of track. Concrete panels were installed and asphalt aprons were repaved.
Motorists in the area were directed to use a detour involving 50th Avenue, Township Road 331A and Highway 2A.
Access for local traffic only was provided between 49th Avenue and Highway 2A (also known as 46th Avenue).
Plans called for message boards to be installed along Highway 2 and on Highway 27 west of Highway 22 warning trucks to avoid the area during the project.
Paolo at Buster’s Pizza & Donair says the closure and detour had a negative impact on that business.
“It's a bit slow since yesterday since cars are rerouting to a different street when crossing town,” he said Thursday.
“It's a bit of a big deal for us,” he added. “Like we have (fewer) people picking up orders now.
“I don't know, maybe they don't like to the hassle of going here. Instead of going straight, they have to reroute to another street and everything.”
Paolo didn’t think the business received enough warning about the railway work and resulting detour.
“There was a post in from Facebook, but that was it,” he said.
“Maybe they should have told us one week earlier. They could have told all the establishments that would get affected one week earlier.”
The Town of Olds posted a warning about the scheduled work on its website and issued notices about it to news media and social media last week.
Contact information for CPKC Rail and the town was included for anyone having questions about the closure and work.
Blissful Nails & Spa sits just across the railway tracks from where the rail upgrading was being done.
When asked if she had noticed any impact from the road closure and detour on her business, owner Julie Diep said, “No, (not) so far.”
She said her clients that come from out of town managed to get to the business via the detour.
She was relieved to learn that the work was expected to be completed by 7 p.m. Thursday.
