A member of Windsor City Councillor says there's been "a lot of suffering" in the wake a protest that halted traffic at the Ambassador Bridge.
Fabio Costante represents Ward 2, which includes areas along Huron Church Road in the city's west-end.
Since a near week-long protest was brought to an end by police on Feb. 13, many of the eastbound and westbound access points along Huron Church Road have been restricted as police try to manage the flow of traffic at the Ambassador Bridge.
Police recently opened Industrial Drive and Northwood Street to all eastbound and westbound traffic.
Tecumseh Road West at Huron Church Road has also been reopened to those looking to turn onto Huron Church Road northbound from Tecumseh Road West, but for Ambassador Bridge traffic only.
Costante says he has no idea when some of the access points will reopen.
"This is strictly a police matter and a national security matter, those details and decisions happen at a level that is far beyond Council. The hope is that we'll see more coming in the near future," he says.
Costante says the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have been hard on so many.
"Then we have the blockade and the road closure, it's caused a lot of hardship on a lot of the businesses along the corridor. Even though most of the businesses can be accessed through back roads, it's not easy for folks to do that. It causes a lot of inconvenience for folks to do that," he says.
Costante says some businesses on Wyandotte Street and in Sandwich Town have also seen a decline in business as people avoided the west-end during the protests.
"It certainly caused some business disruption," he says, "I'm hoping with the opening of Tecumseh Road and with the protests being done, I'm hoping more and more people start to come back and start patronizing our businesses."
The City of Windsor is asking business owners along Huron Church Road to track their losses as a result of the ongoing situation, with plans to seek financial aid on behalf of for those businesses from the provincial and federal governments.
With files from Rob Hindi