A group of business owners is taking the city of Winnipeg to court over traffic issues on a stretch of Assiniboine Avenue downtown.

The city is building a bikeway on the street and has changed the direction of traffic on several streets.

The court action was filed by a half a dozen businesses including Unicity Taxi, Dubrovnik Restaurant and the owners of several properties.

In a statement of claim the business owners claim the changes are dangerous because they restrict access by emergency vehicles.

Unicity Taxi president Gurmail Mangat said the construction has caused serious delays for cab drivers. Moreover, the changes will devalue properties in the area. They want construction to stop.

"Basically we'd like to have it the way it was before," he said. "We'd like to have the public to be consulted. We'd like to have our concerns addressed. And nobody talks to us. This is not a democracy we live in."

Mangat says the construction has caused traffic jams on Broadway.

"We are angry, to be honest," said Mangat. "We tried to talk to the politicians. They don't listen. They have no time for this."

The lawsuit claims there was insufficient public consultation on the street changes and traffic is gridlocked in the neighbourhood.

The business owners say the city should have passed a bylaw in order to make the changes but failed to do so.