Downtown Sherbrooke construction about to get worse
The City of Sherbrooke is warning drivers with the tendency to travel along Wellington Street North to be wary of upcoming major work in that area as the excavations currently underway on Meadow Street move west. Due to the large equipment needed for the deep excavation and the fact that Meadow intersects with Wellington, the majority of the downtown street will need to be closed to traffic entirely for a minimum of four weeks.
“It is a necessary evil,” said Sherbrooke Mayor Steve Lussier. “We need to be able to do this work.”
Although the work on Meadow was known to be moving ahead, Caroline Gravel, the city’s director of urban infrastructure, said that new workplace health and safety rules resulted in a change to the amount of additional space the city had to set aside for the work. Given the limited amount of additional space available in the close quarters of the downtown neighbourhood, the city was left with little choice other than to close off most of Wellington for the duration of the work.
“The space needed is a lot larger than we originally thought,” she said, offering reassurances that the city is in close communication with the local businesses and that, “every effort will be made to ensure that business can go on as usual during the work.”
Jean-pierre Fortier, division chief for water management and construction, explained that the work to be done is a part of two major projects. On the one hand it fits into the preparatory work for
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Claudette Beaudry might have been the face behind the Lennoxville Florist for the last 35 years, but she has also been the soul of the 159 Queen Street boutique. Her business has bloomed in the heart of Lennoxville since September 17, 1984, making it one of the longest standing shops in the area. When it comes to floral arrangements, Beaudry believes that every bouquet tells a story.
Beaudry’s story began in the mid 1970s, when her passion for floristry was born. After being assigned the rose garden during chores, something sparked inside of her and she began dreaming of becoming a florist. She opted to work after high school but deep down wanted to pursue floristry. At age 22, she signed up in a horticulture program and St-hyacinthe but was encouraged to cut her course short due to leg problems. She was later offered to join the floristry program, a costly $10,000 course, which would be covered by the school. To make ends meet and afford rent, Beaudry worked three jobs at two different florists in Sherbrooke and St-hyacinthe, and at the hospital in Sherbrooke.
Beaudry’s hard work eventually paid off, as she bought the 159, Queen Street florist shop in 1984. “It was definitely a gamble. I didn’t speak English and I was an outsider. But everyone accepted me as I was and the people in Lennoxville eventually helped me learn how to speak English!” she noted. “I already cannot believe that 35 years have gone by.”
Being a florist is no easy game and requires constant adjustment, and a good ability to manage high pressure situations. The Lennoxville Florist shop opens at 9 a.m., and Beaudry and her employees are often already over
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the construction of the new Grandesfourches Bridge and the re-routing of that major boulevard next year. On the other hand, it also makes up a part of a much larger initiative on the part of the city to separate the integrated drain system into two systems, one for storm drains and the other for wastewater. According to Fortier, that $500 million project will take place over the course of several decades.
In order to help alleviate some of the stress caused by the road closure the city is offering free parking in the Webster and La Grenouilliere parking lots as well as on parts of Frontenac and Wellington streets. Lussier estimated that the gesture will cost the city roughly $21,000 in lost parking fees.
Although the excavation work on Meadow and Wellington is expected to take as much as four weeks, Gravel pointed out that there will be additional paving and utilities work after the fact that could take as many as an additional four weeks. She explained, however, that that second stage of work will not require complete closure of the road.
Recognizing that this significant amount of work is problematic for local businesses pedestrian access is being maintained along Wellington Street for the duration of the work with the exception of the crossing of Meadow which will obviously be impassable due to the presence of a giant hole.
Details on the work as it progresses will be made available on the city's website at Sherbrooke.ca/grandesforches