Business owners need to be patient with their employees next week, as the second phase of the Cogswell District Project gets underway.

That’s according to Sue Uteck, Executive Director of the Spring Garden Area Business Association.

Thirty transit routes are slated to be disrupted as four transit bays at Scotia Square are relocated.

The project is expected to create significant traffic delays.

Uteck tells us it will be a huge disruption but talking to business owners, they realize those who work downtown will need extra time to get in on Monday when construction begins.

“Everyone is just going to have to breathe through their nose, have a pound of patience and you know… allow your employees a few days to figure it out.”

She adds that when the project is done, and we have new infrastructure, everyone will be happy with the results.

Meanwhile, CEO of the Downtown Business Commission Paul MacKinnon says the biggest concern is the perception that going into downtown will be too difficult.

He tells our newsroom that although the first couple of days will be a bit “wacky”, once people get used to the change it shouldn’t be too bad at all.

He says any time there is a change, there is a concern about what will happen.

“Last weekend was a perfect example of what can go wrong…we had a circumstance where Barrington Street was closed, there was big events happening at Scotiabank Centre, as well as a Wanderers game, one of the bridges was closed, there was an accident on the other bridge, so traffic came to a standstill for a while on Saturday. Hopefully we won’t have too many circumstances like that again.”

MacKinnon says the real impact will affect those who ride the bus.