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Union Street Construction “Nightmare”
< < Back to"It's been horrible. The Union Street construction has significantly impacted our business." Grinders owner co-owner Barb North-Moss. "That's my statement."
"It started on July 7…now it's taking forever," owner Eric Moss said. "They shut us down for something not particularly useful."
Like many of the small business owners on Union Street, the almost four month road construction has not helped business growth. Business owners like the Moss' claim to have lost a "significant" amount of money due to the construction.
"When the construction is done, people won't just come back. They're out of their routine," Moss said. "It's going to cost us even more money to get those people back."
Moss claims administration promised two-lane traffic and flaggers. The road has been through a variety of closures including one-lane and complete closure.
Grinders isn't the only business that has suffered from construction inconvenience. Star of India owner Balwinder Kaur says customers often don't know whether or not they are open when roads are shut down. While Moss says Grinders received a letter tapped to the door a day before roundabout construction began, Kaur claims Star of India was never informed about the extensive construction. The new business has also had problems with the close range construction.
"They cut our phone line. Customers were waiting to pay but no phone line no credit card," Kaur said.
As Union Street businesses continue to grit their teeth through the grind of roadwork, city inspector for the West Union Street project, Dave Carter, says the project should be done soon.
"This hole will be done today," Carter says while standing over a ten by ten drop of pavement. "Everything should be done by the end of next week, if there aren't any complications. It should be mostly opened up for Parents Weekend,"
While his neighbors are struggling with the construction chaos, Smiling Scull owner Chris Wolf has few complaints about the project.
"It's been a little dusty," He smiled over a table of paper work. "I wish they would do something about the dust. In the long run, this is going to be real nice."
Unlike either of the lesser known businesses, Wolf says the Smiling Scull received a sufficient amount of information including a personal visit from the public works officials.
“My customers will be here no matter what,” Wolf gestures to his already active bar."I'm not in it for the money, I'm in it for the good time."