Business
Businesses say 23rd and Iowa repaving project hurting their bottom line
It's not only drivers experiencing major construction headaches along Iowa; businesses in the area say business has dropped as much as 50 percent during the project.
July 8, 2008, 12:50 p.m. Updated July 8, 2008, 5:17 p.m.
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Joey Greeve, Topeka, lies down a striping line in the middle of Iowa St. between 27th and 28th Street Tuesday, July 7, 2008. Crews with Asphalt Improvement Co., Lawrence, were repaving southbound lanes on Iowa Street south of 23rd Street Tuesday, July 8, 2008.
Businesses are feeling negative effects from a road repaving project along Iowa Street between 23rd and 31st streets, which entered into a third week Tuesday.
Sales numbers at Old Chicago, 2329 Iowa, have dropped as much as 50 percent during the project, said Mark Beliveau, store manager. The booths at the restaurant were mostly empty late Tuesday morning.
"It's slowed us down tremendously. We haven't seen as much traffic come through, obviously, because you can't get in here as easily," Beliveau said. "There are a lot of detours away from our business."
Contractors are shutting down parts of the intersection of 23rd and Iowa during the early-morning hours, and traffic is being rerouted. At other times during the day, traffic is being reduced to one lane in each direction along Iowa Street.
On Tuesday morning, Eugene Ross sat on a counter at Jiffy Lube, 2415 Iowa, and looked at two empty car bays. He said he sent his employees home because of diminished business.
"It's hurting pretty bad," said Ross, store manager. "I've probably seen a 20 to 30 percent drop-off on cars from what we normally have."
But, Ross said, the long-term benefits of the project will be worth it. He said Iowa Street was in major need of repair.
The city is encouraging people to find a way around the road work, especially the rest of this week.
The city contractor is on schedule with the project, which is expected to be finished in early August, said Lisa Patterson, city spokeswoman.
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8 July 2008
at 1:36 p.m.
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OnlyTheOne (Anonymous) says…
What is wrong with the people running Lawrence?
Please, does somebody have an answer to this lunacy?
8 July 2008
at 1:50 p.m.
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hail2oldku (Anonymous) says…
So when do you want them to do the work?
Yes they could go during the night time hours, but then you'd have the people griping about the additional costs.
I feel sorry for the businesses in the area, but for the regular person, there are plenty of relatively convenient ways around this intersection.
8 July 2008
at 1:51 p.m.
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fu7il3 (Anonymous) says…
Yeah, having to shut down an intersection while it is paved. The nutjobs! What do you want them to do? Build a bridge?
8 July 2008
at 1:55 p.m.
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SettingTheRecordStraight (Anonymous) says…
A finished SLT would have mitigated this problem.
8 July 2008
at 2:09 p.m.
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fu7il3 (Anonymous) says…
What about the river otter that I often see jogging through the cross walk at 23rd and Iowa?!
8 July 2008
at 2:23 p.m.
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cloggedjhawk (Wendy magillicutty) says…
I've lived here all my life and rarely go through that intersection. I avoid that area like the plague.
8 July 2008
at 2:29 p.m.
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Confrontation (Anonymous) says…
I thought it was the smoking ban's fault.
8 July 2008
at 2:33 p.m.
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Eride (Anonymous) says…
It wouldn't be near as bad if they would clearly mark detour routes. Not being able to know what roads to take to get around the closing is what is causing so many issues.
8 July 2008
at 2:42 p.m.
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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…
fu7il3
This should help.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/907…
8 July 2008
at 2:48 p.m.
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fu7il3 (Anonymous) says…
Perfect. Protecting the rare jogging otter is about proper signage.
8 July 2008
at 2:49 p.m.
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chuckabee24 (Anonymous) says…
I'm more inconvenienced by 19th street being closed. I just hope it gets fixed before all of the students come back!
8 July 2008
at 3:03 p.m.
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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…
fu7il3 (Anonymous) says:
Perfect. Protecting the rare jogging otter is about proper signage.
–
I tried to find a street crossing photo that might look close to 23rd. I googled 'otter crossing road photo'
One of the first listings I clicked on about an otter, somehow switched me to a multiple shot 'live streaming pron' site, that requires some microsoft video program that I don't have, so it locked up the screen.
Maybe it thought I googled beaver instead.
(Good thing I'm not a child doing a school report!)
8 July 2008
at 3:12 p.m.
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fu7il3 (Anonymous) says…
Luckily the construction crew was way ahead of us and hired an otter crossing guard.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/…
8 July 2008
at 3:34 p.m.
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Reaper2K (Anonymous) says…
I'm not against the crew closing the intersection at 23rd and Iowa, if it needs to be done. I'm against them closing it during morning rush hour when those of us on the west side of town are trying to get to K-10 on the east side of town.
I want my SLT.
8 July 2008
at 4:03 p.m.
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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…
rofl…
Oh man… you SOOO one-uped me!
(Drats!!)
Reapers..take the SLT to Iowa..turn south.
Go just a little bit to the dirt road just south of the overpass. Go east are far as it goes then head north to 31st and on out.
Makes it a fast trip west to east.
8 July 2008
at 4:38 p.m.
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cloggedjhawk (Wendy magillicutty) says…
It's actually a lot easier to get through 23rd and Iowa than it was to get through 7th and Mass about 1:30 pm yesterday afternoon. There was a road crew blocking the intersection and absolutely no warning signs were up. I *could* have gone west on 8th had I known they were working.
As it were, the two vehicles ahead of me (a Mom in a van and a jacka&& with a deer-horn bumper adornment) expressed maximum concern over their impedance. I rolled down my window and said “thank you!” just to make the road crew's day better. A job is a job is a job; I don't have anyone commenting on my work.
I take that back, my boss is a toddler. Maybe that's why I yelled a polite comment instead of a nasty one.
8 July 2008
at 4:51 p.m.
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Bubarubu (Anonymous) says…
+1 to Eride. The intersection was closed yesterday morning without any apparent notice. Traffic was detoured down Crestline, past a day care and First Presbyterian (who were starting their VBS the same day), and neither had any advance notice either. With cars parked on the church side of the street, Crestline is too narrow to accommodate much traffic, not to mention the residential streets between the church and 25th, which suddenly had a lot more traffic. Closing the intersection has to be done, got it, but people also have to get to work. The failure to notify anyone of the closing in advance is just dumb.
8 July 2008
at 5:02 p.m.
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geniusmannumber1 (Anonymous) says…
You all complain now, but when they finish that 8 lane roundabout, your lives will become incomparably easier.
8 July 2008
at 5:41 p.m.
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hail2oldku (Anonymous) says…
bubarubu - it was in the paper on Sunday.
Personally, I'm more like cloggedjhawk and avoid the intersection as much as possible.
Going west to east, or vice-versa, I use either 6th St. or Kasold/31st. 21st St is now a favorite as well with 19th closed down.
8 July 2008
at 9:12 p.m.
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Bubarubu (Anonymous) says…
hail2oldku: Fantastic. Not really sure that I should have to pay $1.50 on the off chance that a major intersection will be closed and I should read about it on the one day they put out a notice. I'm clearly not alone since the staff at First Pres. and the day care didn't know either. Oh, and the notice in the paper (which was all of four sentences long, only mentioned paving on Monday morning (the intersection was closed again today). If you're going to close the intersection of a state and US highway, one of the bigger E-W and N-S arteries in, out, and through town, it seems like it would have been prudent to post notification in a public and conspicuous place (say, alongside the roads they were preparing to close) before the weekend so that the folks who conduct business on or near that intersection might be able to make alternate plans for employees and patrons alike.
8 July 2008
at 10:09 p.m.
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Multidisciplinary (Anonymous) says…
geniusmannumber1 (Anonymous) says:
You all complain now, but when they finish that 8 lane roundabout, your lives will become incomparably easier.
–
That's rich!
9 July 2008
at 1:04 a.m.
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VoiceOfReason (Anonymous) says…
I have a legitimate question, if anyone knows the answer…
I've lived in Lawrence for 20 years, so it's possible my years are starting to blur (although I didn't live here in the 60's, so not for the typical Lawrence reason), but didn't they just work on Iowa from (roughly) 23rd to 31st last year or the year before??? I can't remember the exact years, but I swear they've done major resurfacing work on that stretch 4 or 5 times since I've lived here. I'll give them credit for doing it while the students are gone because they've made the bone-headed decision to wait until they've come back before starting major work before, but what kind of crap are they using on our roads that it requires so much work??? Wouldn't spending more for better materials be so much cheaper in the long run? THAT is why I'm sick of bad roads being used as an excuse for tax increases. Do it right the first time, for God's sake!!!
9 July 2008
at 1:07 a.m.
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VoiceOfReason (Anonymous) says…
Oh! And I made the mistake of trying to get across town during the closure. I thought…I'll just jump over to 19th and go up to Iowa. Oops! I forgot about 19th and Louisiana. Do they get a discount for multiple major intersections being closed at once?
9 July 2008
at 6:13 a.m.
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merrill (Anonymous) says…
This would not be a problem if the city has chosen to fix streets in east Lawrence…the streets that are being neglected for at least 25 years.
9 July 2008
at 6:27 a.m.
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moderationman (Anonymous) says…
Boo frickin hoo. It's closed for part of one day and suddenly sales are down 50%? Right…and I have some ocean front proprty in New Mexico to sell you as well.
9 July 2008
at 11:01 a.m.
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HootyWho (Anonymous) says…
All the roads in lawrence suck,
who is the contractor?
hire somebody else to do the work, they couldn't possibly do worse
9 July 2008
at 11:42 a.m.
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hail2oldku (Anonymous) says…
“what kind of crap are they using on our roads that it requires so much work??? ”
That is a question for the former city engineer's husband since he owns the company that has been the winner in many of these bids.
And bubaruba - while I will agree with you that notice posted along the roadway would have been nice I still don't sympathize much for the regular user that doesn't follow construction progress on their chosen routes. Beside being in the paper, it was on this site and on the city's website.
9 July 2008
at 12:02 p.m.
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bender (Anonymous) says…
VoR- I think it was just last summer that they redid the intersection at 23rd & Iowa to add the double left turn lanes from southbound Iowa onto eastbound 23rd. Why they have to resurface that same intersection again this year is beyond me.
9 July 2008
at 3:36 p.m.
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Bubarubu (Anonymous) says…
hail2: “I still don't sympathize much for the regular user that doesn't follow construction progress on their chosen routes. Beside being in the paper, it was on this site and on the city's website.”
Construction progress in the last 12 months has been very well publicized. For example, see the multiple stories about the turnpike entrance closing, last summer's stories about the work on Kasold, and the repeated stories this spring about closing 19th St. A four-sentence item the day before closing a major intersection is both abnormal and foolish.
Oh, and moderationman, this morning made three days, not one. I'm guessing tomorrow will make four.