Traffic snarls on major St Catharines street as Canada Games banners removed
Published September 15, 2022 at 9:33 am
As rock group Blood, Sweat & Tears first explained in song back in 1968, “what goes up must come down.”
In the case of St. Paul St W in St. Catharines, a major artery for daily traffic, it was the Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games banners.
That meant workers had to block off the entire eastbound lane today (September 15) so they could get a man in a bucket up there to dismantle the banners.
So all traffic in both directions was rerouted onto the westbound lane, making for some heavy delays in both directions on one of St. Catharines busiest streets.
With eight individual banners hanging on each end of the Burgoyne Bridge and only two down at that point (8:30 am), a worker told InNiagaraRegion that it would take the better part of the day to get them all down.
“We’ll be done some time this afternoon, around 4 or 5 (pm),” he said, holding a stop-go sign at McGuire St to hold back the traffic flow coming onto St. Paul W.
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As it turned out, he overestimated the time the job would take as both lanes were open at 11:30 am.
The St. Paul/St Paul W and Ontario St/Westminster St intersection sees the majority of flow in and out of St. Catharines downtown area.
Northbound and southbound traffic was not affected by the St. Paul W closure. However, at times, the intersection was block by cars and truck trying to get onto the bridge.
Westbound traffic on St. Paul St W was at a virtual standstill this morning as workers had the eastbound lane completely blocked off to remove Niagara 2022 Canada Summer Games banners off the post at the Burgoyne Bridge. All traffic in both directions was rerouted onto the westbound lane, meaning traffic back-ups.