Southwest Detour festival celebrates beginning of the end of construction on Notre-Dame St.

With construction on Notre-Dame Street West slowly wrapping up, Montreal's Southwest borough decided to celebrate with a festival that runs through the weekend.

For eight months, much of the busy commercial artery has been impassable due to roadwork, affecting residents and merchants alike.

Now, part of Notre-Dame has been reopened, with the section between Rose-de-Lima Street and Green Avenue set to be free of roadwork by early December.

The festival is called Detour,and is complete with orange cone artwork, orange cone cartoon characters and a human bowling rink.

Borough Mayor Benoit Dorais said that the disruptions to traffic have made it difficult for merchants and citizens to reach Notre-Dame Street, affectionately called "la Dame."

"I think it was a success," Dorais said. "But we'll also learn from the difficulties we had. Other roadwork will be different [in the future]."

Saturday's events included the inauguration of Place Bonheur-D'Occasion, a space at the corner of Rose-de-Lima and Notre-Dame streets. Doraissaid he hopes the new attraction will allow for more "unique" events in Saint-Henri.

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Many businesses are hoping foot traffic will pick up now that construction is winding down.

'It wasn't always fun'

Ray Silasis the owner of Crossover Comics, a comic book store on Notre-Dame, and he said keepingafloat throughout road closures hasn't been easy.

"It's definitely hurt foot traffic. You don't have anyone wandering in off the street."

"We're still a young business, so two years in construction was hard on top of being a younger business," Silassaid.

For some of those living in the area, the construction has been a nuisance since it started last year.

"Every morning at seven sometimes 6:30 the noise started every day," said Julia Kienzle, who lives on Notre-Dame. "It wasn't always fun."

She and Charles Lamarche, who live together, said they're glad to see the end in sight.

"It's been very long, there were a lot of noises, and now we are very happy it's coming to an end," Lamarche said. "We love the street now. It's so fun."

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