Regina business owners eager for end of 11th Avenue construction

For customers figuring out the correct route to Craig Zamonsky’s doorstep, it’s been an ever-changing adventure this summer.

Zamonsky’s Culture Grooming Lounge has been enduring the fourth and final year of the 11th Avenue Revitalization Project in downtown Regina.

Read more:

• Two men charged after Regina police chase ends in Lumsden
• Regina apartment fire leaves one man seriously injured
• Regina restaurant owner ‘hoping and praying’ for business from workers during 11th Ave. construction

“It’s been challenging, it seems, because there are different routes every day, and we’re not as accessible as what our customers are used to,” Zamonsky said in an interview. “There’s a lot of phone calls and a lot of late appointments, so it does affect us on a day-to-day basis.

“But people do end up finding us, so we’re grateful.”

The road is now open as far west as Lorne Street, and pedestrians are now able to cross 11th Avenue at Smith. On Thursday, crews were seen paving the intersection at McIntyre.

Zamonsky said he’s noticed an improvement this year in how quickly crews seem to be getting the job done.

“So far this year, we’ve seen a huge improvement in the process and the amount of people that are showing up every day, working longer days, more days in the week, and just seeing a lot more progress day to day,” he said.

Zamonsky said the construction and pedestrian detours have had different impacts on the barbers at Culture.

“A lot of my senior barbers, we have a really loyal clientele,” he said. “It’s more the younger barbers, people that are starting out their career, that it’s harder to entice people to come downtown when they have this construction.”

In an interview in August, Kurtis Doney, deputy city manager of city operations, said the project was on track to be complete at the end of October.

11th Avenue is now fully open to traffic and pedestrians as far west as Lorne Street. (Geoff Smith/980 CJME)

But Mayor Chad Bachynski, speaking last week on the Greg Morgan Morning Show, suggested it could be finished by the end of September.

Zamonsky is looking forward to it.

“It is looking good. It’s looking really good out front of my shop now. It’s looking more like a road instead of a huge beginning of a project,” he said.

“So we can see the final look of it and how it’s all coming together, and it is very exciting.”