The city is asking for a little more patience from the businesses and residents affected by the construction of the Boundary Road connector.
Since last May, Boeing Road and its surrounding plane-named streets have been a construction zone as the 6.8-kilometre two-lane link between Highways 97 and 16 is completed.
Disruptions are going to continue until the end of the construction season in October and the city's project manager is asking them to see the long-term goal while a roundabout at the intersection of Boeing and Gunn Roads and the installation of storm, sanitary and water lines is wrapped up.
Once complete, the connector will be a link for the logistics park east of the airport.
"I know it's tough to look at the long-range picture when construction outside your door has been taking place for a while," Jim Litzen said.
But that's a difficult pill to swallow for Lisa Ouellet of A-Star Automotive Recyclers, who can't always make it to her Cessna Road business for fear of serious damage to her car.
"Where they ripped up the pavement to where they didn't the drop was so low," Ouellet said. "It would have bottomed out my car because they had dug down deep."
The construction not only prevented herself and employees from getting to work, but it also kept customers away at times, she said.
"This last Friday, they stopped our business completely - wouldn't allow customers in and my employees got stuck at work until eight o'clock because they wouldn't let them out," Ouellet said.
But Western Industrial Contractors vice-president and chief operating officer Brian Savage said that was not accurate.
"All we're doing is paving the Boeing and Cessna Road, so the only time they may not have been able to drive up Cessna is when the paving machine actually went by the driveway, which would be minutes," Savage explained. "We have all of our people there, we have flag people there. So if someone needs to get in and out, they get in and out."
Ouellet said other businesses, such as Your Way Autobody and the Eastway Esso gas station were some of the hardest hit.
Pinedale Auto Wreckers employee Aaron DuBois said business has slowed during construction, but that there's nothing to be done about it.
"This road was probably in just as good a shape as other roads in the city," DuBois joked. "Since it's gravel, it might have been one of the best roads in town."
That wet weather has set back the construction schedule. While originally slated to be all wrapped up by the end of October, there will still be work that needs to be done next season.
Wet conditions caused the loss of 44 construction days in 2011 which will be carried over into 2013, Litzen said. While no finalized date is set, it's possible the work won't be complete until next July.
That work is south of the Gunn Road intersection and Litzen said that shouldn't cause anyone any disruptions. "[The sections on Boeing and Gunn Roads] will be completed and finished in the next month or two."
