Grand Headache Merchants Worry That 10-Week Road Closure Will Put Them In A Rut

John Clarry is one of the shopkeepers on Grand Boulevard who fears construction this summer could drop him into a financial pothole.

The city wants to detour traffic on Grand for as long as 10 weeks beginning in August for reconstruction and repaving.

“This is our livelihood,” said Clarry at a meeting with city officials last week.

Clarry runs the Country Cottage gift shop at 1224 S. Grand. His best sales, he said, come in the fall, when Grand may still be closed.

More than a dozen small business owners told city officials to get the job done as quickly as possible. The merchants said they don’t object to new pavement, but closure of the four-lane arterial could inflict serious financial losses on them because they rely on drive-up customers.

“Those are the most profitable months to me,” said Don Budig, owner of the Manito Exxon station at 29th and Grand.

The project, estimated to cost $800,000, will extend south from Eighth and McClellan at Sacred Heart Medical Center to 29th and Grand.

City engineers have proposed keeping a single lane of traffic open on Grand during construction and diverting other traffic to 14th Avenue and Bernard Street.

But having just a single lane on Grand is as bad as having the street closed, said John Wilson, owner of Mail Boxes Etc., 1314 S. Grand. Closing the arterial is an option business say they can live with, however, if it means the project will be finished sooner.

The merchants also want the city to require double-shifts in the contract to speed work on the project, and they suggested a penalty clause that would force the contractor to stay on a tight schedule.

They also requested that signs be posted along the detour route to let potential customers know that businesses are open.

Assistant City Manager Dave Mandyke said officials will consider the shopkeepers’ suggestions, although some might be costly.

“That’s what we are here for - is to figure out a fair way to do it,” Mandyke said.

Four years ago, the city backed away from repaving Grand because of objections from area businesses.

“If you want to take on City Hall, this is not the place to do it,” said Thom Stark, who owns The Postal Connection at 2920 S. Grand.

Dennis Parker, owner of the TCBY frozen yogurt shop at 1318 S. Grand, told officials, “You are here because we are paying our taxes.”

Parker said he and his fellow business owners expect the city to consider their plight and get the street reopened as soon as possible.

“We are not angry merchants,” he said, during the mostly polite meeting.

Other owners said they’ll still have to worry about overhead costs such as leases, utilities and taxes even though sales will drop like a front tire over a pothole once construction starts.

The project is divided into three parts and is expected to take about 50 working days - about 10 weeks on regular shifts.

Plans call for grinding down the old pavement and resurfacing about two-thirds of Grand on the north and south ends.

In the middle, from 16th to 21st avenues, the city wants to remove the asphalt and underlying rock and dig down to the soil underneath.

Ground water that flows near the surface in that area has penetrated into the roadbed, causing the pavement to sink in places. A layer of waterproof fabric under the new road will prevent that problem in the future, officials said.

The section that will be rebuilt is only 40 feet wide, leaving little room for equipment and two lanes of traffic. The alternative, keeping only one lane open, will delay the project a week, and engineers have not yet decided which direction that lane would go.

Mandyke said the city would close the street completely to speed things up if that’s what businesses want.

Merchants aren’t the only ones upset about the road work. Some residents who live near Grand said they’re worried the project will force heavier traffic through their neighborhoods, including Bernard, 14th Avenue, Garfield Road, Hatch Road and Rockwood Boulevard.

City officials still aren’t sure how they will pay for the project, Mandyke said, but they are going ahead with planning.

The city is hoping county commissioners will increase the local gasoline tax or add a $15 surcharge to the state’s vehicle license fee to generate revenue for street repairs citywide. Those proposals probably would go to voters, he said.

If tax increases are rejected, the city would issue bonds and pay for the project through annual installments, he said.

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