Whanganui businesses on Wilson St are open and ready to welcome customers while roadworks are in progress.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui businesses on Wilson St are open and ready to welcome customers while roadworks are in progress.
Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui lunch bar owners David and Carolyn Keene have experienced something of a double whammy with the effects of Covid-19 restrictions and roadworks outside their Wilson St premises.
Many other businesses are reporting a drop in customers since the roadworks began.
The street is closed from Taupō Quay to thewest side of the Ridgway St intersection while a $1 million upgrade of the inground water and sewer lines is under way.
Although Zest Lunch Bar is on the section of the street which is still open to traffic, the Keenes say they have lost a lot of their regular customers and it is hard to estimate how much food to prepare each day.
"We were just getting back on our feet after the level 4 lockdown and level 3 and 2 restrictions but things have really dropped off again," Carolyn said.
"A lot of our regulars were courier and truck drivers, builders and contractors coming through from Taupō Quay and we're not seeing them now," David said.
"Our neighbouring businesses have been very supportive but they are also affected."
Wanganui Collision Centre manager Nathan Cleveland said it was tough for a small business like Zest.
"We want to support them but we're hurting as well because our own business has dropped off."
Neighbouring businesses said while they understood the work was necessary and had to be delayed due to Covid-19 restrictions, they believed things could have been done to lessen the impact on their livelihoods.
The upgrade - will extend as far as Maria Place - was originally planned to be finished around August but is now expected to be complete by October 29.
Business owners said they can't see the need for excavation - which is also part of the work - when the street was dug up in recent years.
ABD Group branch manager David Newman said the contractor had been "really good at communicating with us".
"They have their contractual obligations and they have been held up by having archaeologists on site."
Whanganui District Council general manager of infrastructure, Mark Hughes said the last replacement of a sewer line in this area was in 2006 at a depth of 2m.
"The pipes we are currently replacing were laid in 1890 and 1908 at a depth of 4m," he said.
"While digging at this depth, the remains of the pre-1900 lower stockade were discovered. The council was legally required to give time to archaeologists to excavate and investigate this find," he said.
Zest Lunch Bar owners David and Carolyn Keene want to assure customers that it is business as usual at their place.
Photos / Bevan Conley
ABD are bearing wholesalers and Newman estimated that their counter sales have dropped off by around 50 per cent.
Another bone of contention for the business owners is the signage at the corner of Maria Pl which says "No Through Road" with a right-pointing arrow beneath.
A smaller sign down to the left reads "Business as Usual".
"It confuses people and they think they can't drive down here," Dion Waring of Wanganui Auto Electrical said.
"I get calls from delivery people saying they can't get here."
Around 20 businesses on Wilson and Ridgway St are affected by the roadworks.
"We're all affected and we support each other as best we can because we're a friendly hub in this area.
"I really think there could be better planning and time and motion management by the council."
A Whanganui District Council spokesperson said the existing inground services line in Wilson St was unserviceable and needed replacing, along with the existing sanitary sewer line that was barely serviceable due to broken pipes and joints full of tree roots. The water mains were also at the end of their economic life.
The business people in the area say they want Whanganui to know that they are open for business and look forward to welcoming customers.
