Monkland Ave. merchants and residents are bracing themselves for construction.

Work begins Monday on the NDG popular shopping thoroughfare, closing traffic starting at Décarie Blvd. and heading west until it reaches Grand Blvd. at the end of August, with disruptions expected to last a few days on each block.

The plan:

  • In July,Monkland will be closed from Decarie to Marcil
  • In August, Monkland will be closed from Harvard to Grand

Sidewalks will remain open to pedestrians.

Construction, which consists of repaving the avenue, will take place between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.

Parking and STM bus routes are affected during this time.

Borough mayor Russell Copeman called the work a "relatively light intervention," that is part of a project, begun in 2013, that will see 40 per cent of the borough's streets repaved by the end of 2017.

"It's not as though we're opening up the street and redoing sewers and redoing water mains," he said. "It's an accelerated program to try and respond to decades of neglect in road repairs."

Copeman said efforts are being made to try and minimize the disruptions for businesses. He referenced other major roadwork projects in other parts of Montreal that had severe negative effects on nearby businesses, saying the nature of the work is much more minor. 

"It's not at all comparable to St. Denis or Cote St. Catherine Rd. or St. Laurent because we're not digging up the road bed, we're not digging up the sewers," he said. 

However, restaurant owners on Monkland said they are very concerned. 

"I just wish they would do it at the beginning of the summer or maybe the very tail end of summer, but July is really our heart of our terrace season, and it’s going to suck, really, that the street will be closed. There’ll be no parking and then the obvious dust and noise that comes from street closures and roadwork,” said Nick Morena of St-Viateur Bagel & Café.

Copeman admitted there will be some short-term inconveniences for merchants, but said they were unable to start work too early in the spring and that waiting until the fall is also unfavourable, because many more people rely on those bus lines during the school year.