While many drivers might say changing Yellowhead Trail to a freeway would ease the gridlock, businesses along the corridor say it would hurt their sales.

Yellowhead Trail is one of the busiest roadways in Edmonton, with stoplights and dangerous merging lanes causing congestion.

“Imagine you’re coming from Calgary, Going to Lloydminster, and you have a time, 10, 11, a delivery,” Truck Driver Hanni Augustino said. “And every minute you have to stop.”

There is a plan in the works to change Yellowhead Trail into a city-wide freeway, and it’s resonating well with drivers.

However, removing the stop lights will limit access to businesses nearby.

Darrell Bauer works with Flaman Fitness, one of the businesses located alongside the Yellowhead.

Bauer said the area is hard to navigate, and those changes will make it even more difficult.

“This location is, as it is, a bit of a challenge to get to as it is, so taking that light out kinda leaves only the one access from the west end of the service road,” Bauer said.

On the east side of 89 Street is Cougar Paint and Collision, and owner Graham Dick is also concerned about restricting access to his business.

“I don’t want to be one of those guys that has a business card and then you flip it over and there’s a map to show you how to get to the business,” Dick said.

Mayor Don Iveson met with a number of concerned business owners Monday afternoon inside Fire Hall Eight, just off of the roadway in question – Iveson said he’s confident businesses will bounce back.

“It’s not in anyone’s interest to make it impossible to do business, it might be tougher for a couple of years,” Iveson said.

Despite that, Dick said he hopes to reach a compromise with the city before the project gets to the construction phase.

“Best case scenario is to leave it as is, but if there was a right in and a right out, we could settle for that,” Dick said.

It’s likely that it will take a few more years before construction on the Yellowhead gets underway. City officials are currently in the design phase. The project is expected to take ten years to complete.

The city is waiting to find out about provincial and federal funding, it is expected to cost more than a billion dollars.

With files from Shanelle Kaul