Business owners on Bell Farm Road in north-end Barrie are relieved to hear work on the roadway between St. Vincent to Duckworth streets is substantially complete after several months.
The reconstruction and widening of Bell Farm Road to three lanes — as well as new bike lanes and sidewalks — began after an environmental assessment completed in 2017 recommended more capacity for vehicles, as well as improved pedestrian safety.
The road is located not far from Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre and Georgian College.
Construction began in April 2021 after the road reached the end of its lifespan. Work was aimed at addressing the aging infrastructure as well as the deteriorating pavement conditions.
Pardeep Singh, who works at Desi-Licious, an Indian cuisine restaurant on Bell Farm Road, said the ongoing construction was certainly felt.
“It's been dead because of all the fencing that has been up," Singh said. "t has been hard for everyone to see that we’re here."
The restaurant opened two years ago and has had to deal with the pandemic closures, followed by a major construction project.
But Singh believes brighter days are ahead.
“It is going to get much better because people will be able to get here, not just from walking but driving and finding a parking spot,” Singh said. “We get a lot of students from the college and they are able to walk here now or drive over easily without being delayed.”
Joem Figueroa, who is co-owner of the Freaky Wizard coffee house and pop culture emporium on Bell Farm Road, also said he was pleased to see the project wrapped up and hopes it helps fill his business.
“The construction took a while and sometimes they had to completely close one entrance," he said. "Customers would get lost because of it, so we haven’t had the best time over all of this. Once we had to shut down for the day because someone did something to a pipeline and we had to close.”
With the wide-open view of the shop from the road, Figueroa believes people will be more enticed to come in and enjoy what Freaky Wizard has to offer.
“Most definitely, I feel that people are going to see us whether they’re driving, walking or taking the bus. Hopefully we get that college traffic. It's one of the reasons we opened here,” Figueroa said.
Mandip Kaur told BarrieToday he did visit the stores periodically during construction, but it was often a nuisance.
“We did go to the store or laundry, but didn’t like to at all. It was so noisy and dusty, it was not nice to walk by,” Kaur while walking in front of the plaza at 130 Bell Farm Rd. “Now it's so bright and wide open, it is really nice.
"I just moved here and have only seen a picture of how it used to be. This is way better," he added.
Although the final price tag hasn't been announced, the project was initially pegged at around $13.8 million.
Some of the project highlights included mid-block pedestrian crossing at Alliance Boulevard, watermain and water service replacement, storm sewer construction and stormwater management improvements, transit infrastructure improvements, construction staging to minimize impacts and roadway street light improvements.
For more on the project, click here.
