Roadwork means slow business

[Brad]

Published Monday
November 1, 2004

Roadwork means slow business

BY CHRIS OLSON

WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Cheryl Pietramale had high hopes for making a success of Elkhorn's Muddy Rivers Coffee & Café when she took over the business in August.


Business is slow for Cheryl Pietramale and her Muddy Rivers Coffee & Café in Elkhorn.

But a lagging road project outside the door has her worried.

"I'm trying to build a new business, but this construction is really hurting me," said the single mother of three children. "I don't know if I'll be able to survive."

Elkhorn City Administrator Don Eikmeier has said the project along a portion of Nebraska Highway 31 north of West Dodge Road "has gone beyond inconvenient to tragedy" because of the businesses hurt.

The widening of the highway, also known as 204th Street, began last spring.

The Nebraska Roads Department, which is in charge of the project, has filed a notice of default against the contractor, WBE Construction in Valley, anticipating that it won't meet its schedule to complete the 135-day project by the end of November.

If the department's new schedule isn't met, WBE could be penalized and replaced, said Claude Oie, the state construction engineer in Lincoln.

WBE declined to comment.

Learning that completion of the road project will extend from November to next spring or longer is causing alarm among nearby businesses that depend upon walk-in trade.

"I was told construction would be completed by the end of November when I bought this business," Pietramale said. "I wouldn't have bought this location if I had known it would take until next spring."

Muddy Rivers depends on breakfast and lunch trade from motorists along Highway 31, including students at nearby Elkhorn High School and Metropolitan Community College.

"Traffic is so congested with the construction that my customers don't have time to stop anymore," Pietramale said. "There have been days I have served only one breakfast and one lunch. I can't pay my rent with business like that."

Down the street, Don Carmello's Pizzeria has seen a 10 percent drop in sales since the road work began.

"The construction has hurt our late-afternoon, 4 to 6 p.m. business," owner Tony Magistro said. "Regular customers we used to see once or twice a week now get in only once every two weeks."

Peter Lin, owner of the Great Wall Restaurant, said he used to fill 20 to 30 tables an evening for dinner. Now, he said, he's lucky if he uses five or six tables.

"The construction workers have made our lunch buffet busier," Lin said. "But they eat so much that there is not much profit left."

Farther north on Highway 31, Cindy Smith, co-owner of Jack's Place, said the bar and restaurant has dropped from 40 lunches a day to 20.

"Even our keno trade is down," Smith said.

The construction work has even slowed down fast food.

"If people can't get through quickly, they don't bother," said Pat Goodman, general manager of the city's Burger King.

"People would rather go to Lakeside on West Center Road than fight the traffic and construction here," said James Kopsa, manager of the Elkhorn Arby's restaurant.

And restaurants aren't the only businesses being hurt by the construction project.

"Customers tell us it takes twice as much time to get here," said Stephanie Vondrak at Cosmetic Dental Institute. "Sometimes they miss their appointments."

Donna Tefen, administrator of Edward Jones investment firm, leaves her home in Yutan a half-hour earlier than usual to get herself to work along Highway 31 and her son to Elkhorn High School across the street.

As a parent, Tefen is more worried about the safety of her son and the 1,000 high school students who maneuver through the construction daily than its effect on her business.

"This construction project has created a really dangerous situation for the kids who attend Elkhorn High School," Tefen said. "I worry about it every day."

Elkhorn Public Schools officials have complained that the project is "an accident waiting to happen" because of the number of high school students who use the road daily.

So far, the project has resulted in fender-benders, but observers fear there is a potential for much worse.

Some businesses have put growth plans on hold until the road construction is completed.

"This construction is like a driving tourniquet that just keeps getting tighter," said Karen Davis, owner of Monograms by Design. "I can't start marketing to Omaha customers until the road work is done."

Some businesses want compensation from the state for losses from the construction work.

"There is no program to compensate businesses for losses because of construction," Oie said. "That is considered a normal part of improving a highway."

All the community can do now is wait out the work.

"We anticipated the road construction when we opened this branch," said Chad Oltrogge, branch manager of a Pinnacle Bank location that opened last month. "We wanted to be where the growing is happening. We don't have a problem as long as the road work gets done."

Pietramale at Muddy Rivers hopes she can hold out that long.

"It's not my fault the Department of Roads hired a contractor that couldn't get the job done on time," she said. "I knew it would be a stretch, but I never dreamed I would have to stretch until next spring."


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WBE needs to go. Besides Elkhorn, you have Fort St between 107 and 122 ALSO 108 St between Harrison and Giles! ALL WBE!

[projectman]

I can't believe WBE is still in the picture. They should be banned from the bidding process altogether.

I wonder if Kiewit can come in to save the day in 10 days or less? I'm sure Kiewit submitted a bid but was undercut by WBE. Lessons learned!!