Emergency road work on Allendale Road in south Edmonton is causing grief for a restaurant supply business that’s now accessible only through a series of detours.
“If you’re a customer that basically drives up and you see all of these big barricades and there’s two guys standing there, and it says road closed — what are you going to do?” said Duane Langille, owner of Alberta Food Equipment.
The store is tucked behind the Petro-Canada on 104th Street and Allendale Road. It’s typically accessible by the eastbound lane of Allendale Road. A stretch of that road is was completely shut down last week, after a large “void” was discovered under the road.
Langille said he initially noticed some construction work and lane closures last week, but was then alerted that there was an “emergency.”
“The next thing you know, we were completely closed off. You couldn’t get into our business.”
Alberta Food Equipment is located just south of the double red lines, showing the total closure of a stretch of Allendale Road. (Epcor)
“We got people calling saying, ‘Are you closed? How do you get in? We were there and you can’t get in.’ “
Epcor, which is managing the work on the void, has said it could take two months to fix the problem. A new timeline for repairs is expected Thursday afternoon.
Spokesman Tim le Riche said there are flag people who can direct traffic to businesses like Alberta Food Equipment.
But Langille said the people doing the flag work change every day, and he’s having to give them instructions on how to get a delivery truck to his site.
Some days, his own staff have had a hard time accessing the business, he said.
Langille has another meeting with Epcor staff about road closures scheduled for Thursday morning.
“I have people there that are paid on commission, so when the people don’t walk in the door and buy stuff, they’re not getting paid the same.
“The bottom line is we’re going to lose money … but it’s out of our control.”