A Dunedin cafe owner says she spent more than $100,000 to keep her business alive while controversial roadworks dragged on for months. Alto Express co-owner Bryony Smith said she was relieved Kaikorai Valley Rd had reopened on Friday having once discussed shutting the business because of the work. “It’s hard enough being a small business at the moment anyway, without extra spanners in the works,” Mrs Smith said. “We’ve got two little kids, and it’s just scary to not know what we were going to be up to in a month’s time. “This has been way more stressful than Covid.” The Dunedin City Council has apologised to Mrs Smith for the impact on her business and acknowledged the work had taken “far longer than originally expected”. Alto Express, the takeaway version of their Mornington cafe, opened in Kaikorai Valley Rd on April 7, Mrs Smith said. They went into it knowing the work was planned and were initially told it would be finished by April 30. But it was later extended to May 12 and more recently to July 30. Mrs Smith said Friday’s reopening of both lanes was “a huge weight off my shoulders’’. “My smile is massive. “I feel ready to just knuckle down, get it going, and do what we had planned from the get-go.” ©Allied MediaAlto Express co-owners Simon and Bryony Smith are relieved the roadworks on Kaikorai Valley Rd have been lifted. Photo: Peter McIntosh. Their situation had been getting scary, Mrs Smith said. The business had not been breaking even and they had injected about $110,000 — which included all of their savings — into the business to keep it alive. “We didn’t know what to do, what our next steps were. “We couldn’t get any more finance — we did try, and we got denied. “We’ve been holding on to hope.” While there were improvements, the work overall had not been handled very well and it was frustrating it had taken this long, Mrs Smith said. People had actively avoided the area, so she believed it would still take a few weeks for customers to start coming back. A council spokesperson said the resurfacing project was “expected to be completed” on Friday. “We acknowledge this project has not gone to plan and has been incredibly disruptive for residents and businesses in the area, for which we apologise.” The delays were due to extremely poor and inconsistent ground conditions encountered on site, which were unexpected and needed additional work to ensure the road performed well long-term. tim.scott@odt.co.nz
