After 3 years of construction, Pie-IX merchants ready for customers to return

For the past three years, access to Pie-IX Boulevard in Montréal-Nord has been no easy feat. A major renovation of the commercial artery left many businesses difficult to get to, as streets closed and public transportation options were diverted. 

The owner of the Coup Ça hair salon in Pie-IX figures he lost 45 to 50 per cent of his customer base. 

"I have been fighting two wars: the construction and COVID," said Aldo Louis.

The street closures and the traffic drove away a large part of the clientele, especially those from Laval who are just on the other side of the bridge.

He recalls that at, one point during the construction, his business was completely inaccessible to both pedestrians and drivers on Pie-IX. The determined few who made it entered the salon through a backdoor in an alley. 

"I went through hell to survive through those times and then came COVID," Louis told CBC Montreal's Daybreak. 

"Closing on and off for a total of about nine months, having to pay rent, having to pay electricity and everything else. It was really horrible." 

Since the construction began, Louis has had to get a second job to be able to support his business.

"If things don't get better in like three months, then I'm going to have to close down." 

The construction on Pie-IX began in November 2018 to make way for the Société de Transport de Montréal's (STM) rapid-bus service. 

Referred to as the integrated Pie-IX BRT, the project "will offer a frequency comparable to that of the Metro," according to the STM. 

Major renovations of the artery are now complete and the new bus service is scheduled to start running in the fall. 

The Long & McQuade music store and school moved to the edge of Pie-IX Boulevard just a few months before the work started.

"We didn't know at all that there was going to be construction," said manager René Lavoie.