CLAREMORE, Okla. — The owner of a business in Claremore says he may be forced to shut his doors after losing more than half of his customers due to road construction.
Construction on Highway 20 is delayed due to crews finding shallow gas lines which extended the project. However, the construction had a negative impact on nearby businesses.
Since opening in 2005, Tony Chen, the owner of Pit Stop Liquor, says restocking shelves used to be a daily routine. Now, he says he spends most of his days re-organizing and waiting for customers. For months, Highway 20 has been down to just one lane in each direction for construction. Chen says it’s a busy highway and it can be challenging for drivers to get on and off the road from his liquor store.
“I lost about 60% of my business,” Chen said.
The owner of the car-wash next door agrees. She tells 2 News it’s cut her business in half. Chen says customers have taken notice.
“A customer once called me and asked ‘how is the traffic, two lanes or one lane?’ I said, ‘right now it’s two lanes.’ He said because of that, ‘I’m not going that way.’”
The Oklahoma Dept. of Transportation began the $4.6 million project in September. But had to delay work when crews found shallow gas lines. They resumed the project after ONG moved the lines in November. ODOT expects to have all four lanes open sometime in the spring.
The pit stop is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
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