LUBBOCK, Texas — An $8.9 million dollar project to widen roads from Slide Road to Quaker Avenue and along 114th Street began over a year ago and it’s brought construction and congestion to the area.
When the orange barriers and cones moved onto the street, local businesses around the area were worried about how the construction would affect them. Over a year later, they say those worries are still there.
“It’s frustrating because it just seems like [the construction] never ends,” said Cannon Roberts, a head chef at Whip’d Pies on 114th Street.
Roberts said when the pie shop first opened, they had a lot of people coming in and out of their front door. But fears about construction affecting their local business were confirmed when they saw foot traffic into their shop drop.
“As soon as that construction happened … business dropped off drastically and it’s never caught back up,” Roberts said.
According to Roberts, they see about 50 to 100 customers a day, but he thinks their customer number would double if they didn’t have traffic from the construction.
Cones, barriers and construction trucks line the street and Roberts said it’s confusing to drive through it, let alone find the entrance to their building.
However, Mike Keenum, who is the director of engineering for the City of Lubbock, said they’re working as hard as they can to get things done.
“We had some waterline issues and utility issues that came up unforeseen, so we extended that contract. So that contract now will go just a little bit beyond the first of the year, so we expect it to be done [in the] February or March time frame,” Keenum said.
According to Keenum, there’s two different construction projects going on along 114th Street. While the construction from Quaker Avenue to Slide Road is planned to clear up by March of next year, he said the construction from Quaker Avenue to Indiana Avenue won’t be cleared up until this time next year.
Keenum said he knows that area is hard to navigate right now, but the project is meant to make Lubbock better. He also said it’s important for people to try their best to drive safe while construction is ongoing.
Until then, Roberts hopes people can find the pie shop amidst the construction and stop in for a slice. But ultimately, he hopes the barriers and traffic will be gone soon so his local business can thrive once again.
