Bad For Business By Taking Advantage Of The Detour Road, Drivers Are Bypassing Businesses

Getting a table for lunch at the Longhorn Barbecue or the Hungry Farmer restaurants is pretty easy these days.

Crowds have thinned considerably at the two Argonne Road eateries since Spokane County closed part of Argonne to begin work on an underpass project.

The $10 million underpass, which will take auto traffic beneath the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks, is expected to reduce traffic congestion at the Argonne-Trent intersection.

Currently, delays are the norm there as more than 30,000 cars and 50 trains roll through the intersection each day.

The railroad tracks run perpendicular to the north-south roads in that part of the Valley.

The underpass will allow traffic on Argonne to run under the tracks unimpeded.

Many commuters who normally use Argonne now steer clear to avoid the construction. In the process, they’re ignoring the stores and restaurants in the area.

Business owners say there is no reason to stay away, and they blame the media for scaring off customers by painting the project as a hideous mess to be avoided at all costs.

“Of course this detour hurts our business,” said Karen Shamion, who manages the Hungry Farmer at the Argonne Village shopping center. “But what hurts it more is the news media. Everything’s negative, negative, negative. It’s really not that bad out here.”

Bill Miller, who manages the Longhorn at 2315 N. Argonne, agreed.

“We’re off some good percentage points on our in-house sales. People are staying away,” he said. “All my friends ask me, ‘Geez, is it just awful?’ It’s not that bad.”

Shamion and Miller are right.

A new detour road smoothly moves traffic around the 500-foot mess where crews are digging the underpass.

Trains still stall traffic, but anticipated traffic headaches caused by the underpass project haven’t materialized.

In fact, many commuters praise the way the county has handled the work so far, especially the detour.

“The detour is better than (Argonne) is,” said Tony Frost, who uses it daily to get to his sub shop on Montgomery Avenue. “I’m actually surprised.”

So is Bob Hitchcock, who manages The Crafter’s Showcase at the Argonne Village shopping center.

“We all expected the worst, but it’s not happening,” Hitchcock said. “This thing is anything but an old bumpy road.”

The curvy detour sends northbound Argonne traffic west on Montgomery for two blocks, then north across the railroad tracks on a newly-paved four-lane road to Trent.

From Trent, drivers can head east to get back on Argonne headed north.

Southbound Argonne traffic follows the same route, only in the opposite direction.

The detour road took nearly $400,000 and five weeks to construct, with another $200,000 for temporary traffic signals for the Trent intersection, said Chad Hutson, a county spokesman.

Engineers began diverting commuters onto the road a little more than two weeks ago. Drivers will have to use it throughout the underpass project’s 18-month duration.

County engineers are pleased with the project so far, Hutson said.

“Everybody here is really happy with the way the change-over’s occurred,” he said.

However, Hutson said, construction workers have noticed some drivers cutting through the parking lots of Trent Avenue businesses to avoid waiting at traffic lights.

He urged drivers to stay on the arterials and avoid using parking lots or side streets to bypass the construction area. If side street traffic counts increase significantly, Hutson said, the county will close those streets to all but local residents.

Now, if business owners can coax those avoiding the area to return.

Miller and the Longhorn are using the project as the crux of an advertising campaign. The reader board outside the restaurant says, “The road’s a mess. Our BBQ is the best.”

Shamion is lobbying hard.

“The mess is fenced in,” she said. “They’re not going through the mess. Using Argonne is no worse than any of the other choices. Pines, Sullivan, Park roads, they’re all just as bad.”

Hitchcock is hoping it pays off. A year and a half is a long time, he said.

“There’s been a slowdown in business. There’s no question about that,” Hitchcock said. “Hopefully, people will start coming back when they realize it’s not that bad.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: The nitty gritty Work crews recently began digging the trench for the $10 million Argonne Road underpass. They will move more than 96,000 cubic yards of earth to complete the project, according to statistics compiled by the county engineer’s office. That’s nearly 5,000 dump-truck loads of dirt. Most of the earth will be dumped along the Burlington Northern Railroad right-of-way to the east of the project, said Chad Hutson, spokesman for county public works. The excavation is expected to be completed in March of next year.