Business owners around Assiniboine Avenue claim changes to the direction of traffic are dangerous because they restrict access by emergency vehicles. (City of Winnipeg)

The City of Winnipeg has fired a legal shot back at some angry business owners on Assiniboine Avenue.

The business owners have taken the city to court to stop construction of a bikeway in the area of the downtown street, claiming the work is restricting traffic and access for emergency vehicles.

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

But city lawyers countered with a court motion Thursday that will effectively delay the court case into October.

"By the time the city's motion is heard on those procedural matters the work on Assiniboine will long have been completed and I imagine there will be snow on the ground," said Joseph Pollack, lawyer for the business owners.

Pollack said his clients will likely press the case, adding that even if the work is finished they will ask the court to force the city to rip up the work and restore the street to its former traffic patterns.

Business owner Doug MacKenzie said there's little doubt the business owners will keep up the legal pressure.

"I don't see us stopping and we are going to ask that the streets be put back into the position they were. Now that may not mean drill up all the concrete, but it does mean the traffic patterns have to be restored."