Clinton's Main Street 'almost' ready to reopen

Clinton, Ont. -

It’s almost time to re-open Clinton’s downtown following a Main Street road closure that started in June.

“Things like this take a long time,” said Central Huron Mayor, Jim Ginn. “We wanted to do it now. The County of Huron said they were going to replace the road and we didn’t want to rip up new asphalt to fix the infrastructure underneath. It’s 100 years old and should have been replaced 30 years ago. We couldn’t go another 30 years,” he explained.

New sewers, sidewalks and streetlights are the main features of Clinton’s Albert Street reconstruction that closed a main thoroughfare used by thousands of motorists each day.

Of course, no one is more excited about the impending re-opening than Clinton’s downtown businesses, which line the Main Street through town.

“We’re very excited. We can’t wait,” said Rack and Room Manager, Brenda Sjaarda. “There’s anticipation in the air since people have been so frustrated with the parking and everything else, so this will be really nice,” she said.

COVID restrictions, coupled with the closure, made for a double whammy for Clinton’s downtown business community.

“In our type of business, we rely 100 per cent on community donations, so if people can’t get to us we don’t have anything to sell,” said Sjaarda.

“There weren’t many days where the businesses weren’t accessible, but it’s still an inconvenience. People can’t park close and all that. It’s been hard on them, especially following the pandemic, which was the worst possible timing, but we just had to do it now,” said Ginn.

The $3.7 million dollar reconstruction is expected to be completed this week, with Albert Street expected to re-open as soon as Friday.