Randy Hubert directs traffic at King and Main streets during ongoing construction work in the Welland downtown core. Businesses are calling for customer support during the inconvenient period.

Since construction in downtown Welland began about one month ago, business has dropped about 50-60 per cent at Venice Pizza and Pasta Bar, said owner Jeff Bennett.

As excavators and front-end loaders continue to tear up East Main Street, he said, his restaurant has been serving a very small number of patrons each night.

"You can't run on four to five tables," said Bennett. "Nobody can. We're all in the same boat."

The rebuilding of East Main Street, as well as Cross Street, has made East Main into a one-lane road, eliminating parking on the thoroughfare.

The sidewalks along East Main are fenced off from the road at the curb, to keep pedestrians safe from construction work being done by Niagara Region. According to various business people who attended a roundtable at the Cafe on Main on June 19, the conditions aren't inviting to customers badly needed to generate revenue.

"The biggest deterrent to us is the damn fences," said Bennett.

To deal with the bad business period, the Welland-Pelham Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Welland Business Improvement Area are working with the various store owners to make people aware that downtown is still open for business and that, despite some inconveniences, parking is still available in some areas.

Power players in the area are also developing incentives to keep customers coming back after the construction, including an area re-branding and a media campaign. They are worried that a pattern similar to the one that developed after the Main Street bridge was closed two Christmases ago would re-emerge, where customers would end up permanently changing their patterns to avoid the downtown.

"Now we're sending them three to four times to another place -- guess what, they're comfortable there," said John Krall, chamber president.

Concerns about ticketing parked cars during the construction were also communicated to city manager of traffic and parking Dave Ferguson.

In a followup phone interview with Ferguson, he said the Region had been contacted about posting signs to alert people of where to go to park. He also said he thinks the project is on schedule, as several people at the meeting worried that the work wouldn't be done in two to three weeks, as projected.

Following the Region's work completion, the city takes over and begins the streetscaping and beautification projects. "Essentially the roadway will be reopened and parking will be on the street," he said. "It'll definitely be less intrusive."