The work is part of an improvement effort the City of Montreal, which is footing the bill, is conducting this summer on several arterial streets throughout the city. The Borough of Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce is repairing and resurfacing residential streets elsewhere on its territory using a work schedule developed separately.

According to Jeremiah Boyter, who runs Retro Vie, a second-hand furniture and appliance store on Sherbrooke near Marcil Avenue, the project, which was supposed to last no more than three weeks, has dragged on two weeks longer, and merchants weren't informed of an additional complication — sidewalks that were also being rebuilt.

"I think that definitely it's impacted the business in a negative way," he said. "There's less people walking around. Seeing as the work crews are here until 11 o'clock at night, there are not a lot of people out strolling the sidewalks and looking at the shops."

As stripping and preparation of the roadbed takes place prior to the resurfacing, a great deal of dust is being kicked up. In addition, the level of noise along Sherbrooke is deafening. But with summertime temperatures now rising, many of the merchants have no choice but to leave their doors open.

"I've had to clean on a daily basis," said Boyter. "We have to dust everything. I usually can't have the door open, because you can't hear a conversation within your store." At antiques dealership Antiquités A&G across the street a little further east, owner Al Maratos had similar complaints. Maratos claims the merchants only learned of the project through a handbill delivered to them two weeks prior to the start date.

"There's a lot of dust pollution and noise," he said. But he acknowledged it's all necessary in order to improve Sherbrooke St. "You have to put up with some of the noise and all that to make the street a better place, because it's going to upgrade it in the long run," he said. "But in the meantime, we're paying the price."

The merchants are not the only ones complaining. In an open letter addressed to Borough Mayor Michael Applebaum recently, Dominique Sorel of Harvard Avenue and two other residents of nearby streets, protested that no one thought of including traffic calming and pedestrian safety measures in the project.

"And yet such measures are to be seen on Sherbrooke St. in the Borough of Ville Marie, as well as in Westmount," they said. "So we have difficulty understanding why they cannot also be found in Notre Dame de Grâce." In an interview, NDG city councillor Marcel Tremblay insisted the work is not behind schedule and the most important aspects should be completed within a week.

"They had always been asking for the road and the sidewalk to be done, so they are done now," he said, recalling how the local merchants' association had once placed the task high on their wish list. "It's a big investment of our city and our administration … I think that at the end of all this the merchants are going to be very happy."