Confusion for drivers and the city of St. Catharines Tuesday, the city says a number of road closure signs went up unexpectedly. It turns out the Ministry of Transportation is behind the signs.
The signs around St. Catharines are vague, they don’t give a date or time. Just that there will be a closure on the QEW.
“Our staff were involved in some of the actual development of the plans last year, but we were never given the information as to when the road closures would happen,” said St. Catharines Mayor, Mat Siscoe.
“So when the signs went up last week, everybody was sort of caught unaware and left a lot of of our staff at city hall, not knowing how to communicate to the public.”
Resurfacing will start next week on the QEW between Niagara Street and Seventh Avenue and last for 5 months.
That means nightly ramp closures will take place. The Ministry of Transportation told CHCH News no two adjacent ramps will be closed at the same time.
But it’s not the closures some have an issue with, it’s the communication.
“The closures are always a warning because our businesses are always worried that they’re going to lose access to the customers,” said Rachel Braithwaite with St. Catharines Downtown Association.
“The communication is key and when road closure signs go up they don’t always always have that sign with the times on them so people get confused easily so it could prevent a lot of people coming for a very long time.”
The two main ways to get into Port Dalhousie will be impacted over night. And the mayor says he will be writing a letter to the Ministry of Transportation.