Many residents on Grandin Road are frustrated with the snail-like progress with the construction on Grandin Road. Is it acceptable to leave residents without access to their driveways for over two months? The City of St. Albert has contracted a local construction company to improve the service road on Grandin Road by making new sidewalks, laying new sod, making new driveway approaches, and finally paving the road. You've undoubtedly seen the mess if you live in Grandin. To date, it has been a project that has taken far too long. Many days, workers don't even show up. I don't see progress for weeks and then surprisingly, something is done; then nothing for weeks again. I don't know the particulars of the contract, but I certainly hope the City set a timeline and had enough forethought to add a clause to the contract where the company would be fined every day that the project isn't complete. The project has inconvenienced many people on Grandin Road who have to suffer the inconvenience of not having access to their driveways, let alone the people who have to put up with people parking in front of their homes when they could use that space for their own vehicles. A truck was even stolen because it was parked on the street across the road instead of on his own driveway. My elderly parents have low mobility and are only two of the people being inconvenienced by this project. It is also a safety concern for them every time they need to go to a medical appointment. Every time I pick them up, I have to move the barricade so I can drive to their house, and since I don't have access to their driveway, I have to place a ramp on their driveway so Dad, along with his walker, won't fall into the deep hole that has been there for weeks. Arrangements have been made to have their mail delivered to their house once a week, but since the construction started, there have been a few times where they haven't received their mail for weeks because the postman can’t get access to their house with his vehicle. Why should tax-paying citizens not have access to their own driveway for months on end? There is no excuse for it. When seconds count, and if ambulance drivers have to waste those seconds by removing a barricade and placing ramps to make it safe to enter property, I hate to think what could happen. So, I ask you again ... Is it acceptable to leave residents without access to their driveways for over two months? Absolutely not! In Edmonton, I have seen construction workers pave an entire road in a day. Residents aren't inconvenienced for more than a day. Maybe the City of Edmonton hires better contractors. Ellen Ainsley, Edmonton
