Local business owner Evelyn Davie said she saw things Wednesday afternoon no one should ever have to witness.
“As most Canadians, we know nothing of a war zone, but we had that yesterday,” said Davie, who owns the Stage & Street theatre and dance supplies store on Elgin Street. “We had death, we had a body lying on the ground for hours, we had more police than I've seen in a long time.”
Just before 2 p.m. Wednesday, a 58-year-old woman was killed when she was struck by a large construction grader on Elgin Street, not far from Davie's store.
According to CBC reports, the Greater Sudbury Police Services have said they will not release the identity of the deceased at the wishes of her family.
Davie said the woman had left the offices of the Northern Initiative for Social Action (NISA), just down the street, and walked up the sidewalk past her store, so she could cross the street, and head toward a Shopper's Drug Mart on the other side.
Interpaving Limited, the contractor that has been working on the road all summer, had recently created a path so NISA members could easily cross the road, but it was not accessible for the woman, who used a walker to get around.
“They didn't pack it,” said Davie. “To dump a bunch of gravel over the curb, and then do it on the other side, does not make it accessible.”
Because the woman could not use the path, she crossed further up the street.
“She was focused head down, just trying to manoeuver her walker,” Davie said.
It was at that point the grader backed into her, She said, as horrified onlookers desperately tried to get the driver's attention as the machine moved steadily toward the woman.
Davie said there was too much noise for the operator to hear. But, she added, there were also no flagmen to help pedestrians cross the road, and the machine was not emitting a warning sound when it was backing up.
The operator, she said, was also driving quickly.
“He was driving the speed of a car that's coming from Ste-Anne's and trying to get the Elm (Street) light,” she said.
Davie said in the past week the construction crews in general seemed to have picked up the pace.
“This has been now, since Friday, 'How fast can we do this?'” she said.
That speed, she said, came after months of slow progress on the roadwork. Interpaving started its upgrades to Elgin Street – which included work to the water main, sanitary sewer and curb – in May 2015.
Davie said she and other business owners on her block expected the work to be completed months ago.
“They would dig great holes and then you wouldn't see them for two weeks,” she said.
Businesses on the block lost customers, and on Sept. 25, the owner of the men's clothing store Fiorino's at the Port, decided to close the store permanently, Davie said. Fiorino's did not return a call from NorthernLife.ca, nor is there any information on the business' website or Facebook page about closing.
Downtown Sudbury did announce today owner John Fiorino's retirement, however.
Other businesses on the street are reaching the same point due to disruptions from the roadwork, she said.
“We thought we were being held hostage before, and now we're all grieving,” Davie said.
She said the city has told affected business owners it plans to meet them soon about their concerns. But despite any future response, Davie said Wednesday's tragedy could have been prevented.
A representative with Interpaving told NorthernLife.ca the company could not comment on Wednesday's incident, or its safety procedures, while the police investigation was still underway.
Ministry of Labour spokesperson William Lin confirmed the ministry has dispatched to inspectors to the scene to also investigate the collision.
In a statement, the City of Greater Sudbury said under provincial regulations, the contractor is responsible for designing and following a traffic protection plan that includes ensuring pedestrian safety.
"The city provides project management of a construction contract as a whole, but cannot direct how the work is carried out," the city said. "The city employs inspectors to monitor construction sites for quality of workmanship and for meeting the technical requirements of a contract."
