The day finally arrived. And Chatham businesses couldn’t be happy.
The day finally arrived – and Chatham businesses couldn’t be much happier.
After a number of project delays, the Third Street bridge finally reopened to traffic and pedestrians Wednesday afternoon.
The bridge had multiple planned reopening dates canceled this year, with the latest delay prompted by the contractor, Toronto Zenith, waiting for a shipment of needed pedestrian railings. It was then slated for reopening in early September.
“We’re excited to have the bridge open,” said Connie Beneteau, office administrator for the Historic Downtown Chatham BIA, on Thursday. “I think it was more of a frustration factor for everybody.”
Labor and material shortages were blamed for the earlier delays, along with the provincewide strike of the International Union of Operating Engineers.
Beneteau said the railing issue had “no way around it,” adding that work needed to be done.
With the completion of the nearby Fifth Street bridge, as well as improvements along King Street West, she said area business owners are looking forward to a break in construction.
Rikki Ashton, owner of Sweet C’s on King Street West, said the reopening is good for the downtown, as well as the whole community in general.
“It’s nice to have this side opened up again,” she said. “It’s good for switching. I’m happy to see a lot of the frustrations kind of whittled down.”
She added she’s eager to serve high school students from nearby Ursuline College Chatham, who can now walk over the bridge, as well as Chatham-Kent Health Alliance staff.
“We don’t really know what it was like before,” said Ashton, noting her business had opened while the construction was ongoing.
“We’re excited to see the flow that it brings and the mouths that we can feed, for sure.”
Chris Bullard, owner of The New GME, a comic book and game store on the north side of the bridge, jokingly posted a mock ribbon cutting on his business’s social media page.
“It was a long time coming,” he said. “Chatham’s a very sarcastic community — maybe we have some reasons for it. I was generally more positive.
“Maybe the rest of our lives, none of us have to deal with (the bridge).”
An event to celebrate the new bridge and the bridge sponsor, TekSavvy, will be scheduled for this fall.
Details on the event will be shared in the coming months.
“We would like to thank the residents of Chatham-Kent for their patience and understanding throughout the project,” municipal officials stated in a previous release.