Businesses growing frustrated with tractor crash road closure

It’s been 18 days since a tractor pulling two large wagons plowed into the front of a storefront on Seaforth’s Main Street.

The wagons have been removed, and the front of the damaged building has been covered up, but the tractor remains lodged in the building.

Which means, the Main Street road closure, which started on Oct. 13, is still in place. And that road closure has turned at least half of Seaforth’s downtown into a ghost town.

A portion of Seaforth’s Main Street remains closed 18 days after a tractor pulling two large wagons plowed into a downtown building. It remains lodged in the building, with no timeline for removal. Downtown businesses are growing frustrated with the downtown road closure, saying it is affecting business. Pictured in Seaforth, Ont. on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“It has sucked,” says Blooms N’ Rooms Owner, Kendra Jewitt. “It has been quiet here. People just aren’t coming in the numbers that they normally would be. It should be ramping up to be a busy season. Maybe we had our first customer at 10:30-11 this morning. I had to check to make sure I unlocked the door to be honest,” says the frustrated downtown business owner.

Jewitt isn’t alone.

Across the street, Joanne Kuntz is getting ready to open her new store, the Seaforth Artist Emporium on Nov. 2. Opening to a street closed to traffic, is far from ideal.

A portion of Seaforth’s Main Street remains closed 18 days after a tractor pulling two large wagons plowed into a downtown building. It remains lodged in the building, with no timeline for removal. Downtown businesses are growing frustrated with the downtown road closure, saying it is affecting business. Pictured in Seaforth, Ont. on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“It is a little frustrating. I am thankful for the updates that the BIA (Business Improvement Association) has been giving us. Hopefully it won’t take much longer to get the traffic flowing again,” says Kuntz.

But, there is no timeline, or least not a public one.

In January of 2022, a large tractor trailer drove into the front of a store on Listowel’s Main Street. That vehicle was removed with 24 hours of the crash.

A logging truck drove into a building on Atwood’s Main Street in Sept. 2022. Extensive damage was done in that collision, and it took over a month before the building around the truck was demolished, in order to remove it.

A portion of Seaforth’s Main Street remains closed 18 days after a tractor pulling two large wagons plowed into a downtown building. It remains lodged in the building, with no timeline for removal. Downtown businesses are growing frustrated with the downtown road closure, saying it is affecting business. Pictured in Seaforth, Ont. on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

Jewitt says she’s been told by the municipality that a partial demolition permit has been issued for the removal of the brick off the impacted area of the damaged downtown building, to see exactly what repairs can be made.

When that happens, is unclear.

“We still don’t have a timeline on that update, which it would be nice to have a plan for. Especially bringing in stock for the holidays, and every day. It’s hard to know what to do,” says Jewitt.

A portion of Seaforth’s Main Street remains closed 18 days after a tractor pulling two large wagons plowed into a downtown building. It remains lodged in the building, with no timeline for removal. Downtown businesses are growing frustrated with the downtown road closure, saying it is affecting business. Pictured in Seaforth, Ont. on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

In the meantime, she said she’d like to see some traffic allowed down her half of downtown, as would Kuntz, who opens, to a now empty Main Street, on Thursday.

“We are going to open Thursday of this week. I’m hoping the road closure isn’t going to affect the traffic in the store, but that’s yet to be determined,” says a hopeful Kuntz.

As of now, no charges have been laid in the crash that’s left a lodged tractor the temporary centrepiece of downtown Seaforth.