St. Catharines Downtown Association

Downtown, city-sponsored road work will be mostly limited to paving King Street between Carlisle and Church streets, which will then be converted to two-way traffic, and finishing the two-way switch on St. Paul Street between Geneva and Court streets.

The wild card, however, could be the possible 2010 water-main replacement by Niagara Region in and around the core, including on parts of Court Street, Geneva Street, Welland Avenue and Ontario Street.

Tisha Polocko, who heads the downtown association, is anticipating a less intense construction season in the core.

Many businesses complained that non-stop road work on King Street and St. Paul Street last summer chased a lot of customers away from the downtown.

"We're expecting certainly less disruption than last year… and when there is work done, the transition will be smoother for everyone," she said. "I'm keeping my fingers crossed."

Sewer and water work aside, the Region will have less to do downtown this summer, said Mike DiPaola, Niagara's associate director of transportation engineering.

The Region and city are still deciding on two-way conversion plans for the complicated intersection of St. Paul, Geneva, Niagara and Queenston streets, so work probably won't start this year.

Ongoing maintenance of the aging Burgoyne Bridge will reduce traffic to one lane for a few weeks in May, DiPaola said, but otherwise, "it will be pretty quiet downtown as far as we're concerned."

Please see full story in St. Catharines Standard by M. VanDongen at: