Alberta Transportation is doing a poor job of communicating its plans with regard to access closures along Highway 27, local business owners say.
Since the plan to consolidate accesses was made public about two years ago, officials with Alberta Transportation said they would consult businesses affected by the closures, said Dr. Tom Boyter of Olds Chiropractic Centre.
“There's been very little consultation. The process has not been transparent,” he said, noting that while Alberta Transportation owns the land near where patrons formerly parked in front of his business, the lack of parking is now impacting patrons.
Craig Sutherland, owner of Boston Pizza in Olds, agreed. He said since the work began in front of the restaurant, he's lost a lot of business because people think it's been closed. As a result, he's filing a claim with the provincial government over lost business.
“Our sales are way down, simply because people think we're closed. Just now, a lady couldn't get out (of the parking lot) because they've sealed off everything,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
During the first Friday of construction in front of Boston Pizza, Sutherland said there were only six tables during the lunch hour.
Sutherland said since a meeting in June in which Alberta Transportation officials told business owners what the process would be once construction started, everything has gone off the rails.
“(There was) that one meeting and after that meeting everything went through different. The way they explained it to us, how they were going to do everything, has not been it at all. What actually happened, it's been completely different,” he said, noting that one day the project workers gave him 15 minutes' notice that the water would be shut off. The restaurant was closed for about seven hours that day.
Sutherland said town officials have worked well with him in trying to get his point across to Alberta Transportation, but said even the municipality can only have modest influence over the provincial government.
Mitch Thompson, owner of Mountain View Funeral Chapel, is frustrated with the lack of communication about the project.
As an example, Thompson said Alberta Transportation officials said there were no plans to change the two accesses that the funeral home formerly had. Since that time, one access was closed without giving the funeral home the chance to raise concerns. He said written objections to the department and talking with Minister of Transportation Luke Ouellette didn't yield any results.
“We just didn't feel the communication was adequate. It was disappointing,” he said.
Thompson said the single access point that now exists in front of the funeral chapel will be problematic if a funeral is taking place at the same time as emergency vehicles need to access the area. He said the lack of parking in the area has caused mourners to have to park off-site since the changes were made.
“I don't think they addressed the safety concern side of things,” he said.
By doing piecemeal work, Alberta Transportation will divide businesses along the highway, Thompson said.
Officials with Alberta Transportation could not be reached for comment last week.
