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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Construction dysfunction
By Shane FarverGentile Street work is discombobulating some Layton businesses
LAYTON -- Just when residents and business patrons were getting used to unimpeded travel on Gentile Street, the western end of the road is closed again to finish what was started last year.
The road work, which closed Gentile from Ellison Street to Main Street late last month, is expected to be finished by June, said Mayor Steve Curtis.
Gentile was previously closed from 2200 West to Ellison Street last spring and opened again in the fall. However, some finishing work that needed to be done couldn't be completed, Curtis said.
"We hit some delays because of weather and were postponed until spring," he said. "This is just the finishing work on it."
In order for crews to cap the road, the temperatures needed to be 65 degrees or warmer and temperatures continued to decline, Curtis said.
Sherri Tatton, co-owner of Costume Castle and Crafts, said her business at 80 W. Gentile St. has suffered since the closure.
"It's ugly," she said. "It's real ugly."
The store has two parts, one dedicated to costume rentals, the other a crafts boutique.
She doesn't expect the crafts boutique to last through the closure.
"People won't fight construction to get here," she said. "They just won't."
But she is hopeful that the costume portion of her store will weather the closings.
"It's a fine line for us," she said.
Richard Snelgrove, president of Snelgrove Travel Centers Inc., said his business located in the closed area isn't as hard hit because it can rely on e-mail correspondence to book travel plans for customers outside the city.
"It doesn't hurt us as bad as, say, we were a dry cleaner," he said.
J & J Nursery, which is located west of the closure, is affected less this time around, said owner Jerry Stevenson.
"It affects us a little, but for the most part we seem to be doing pretty well," he said.
The last closure was "a nightmare," he said. However, road crews and Layton did what they could to accommodate him, he said.
"I think they did everything they could do to make things work for us," he said.
Tatton disagrees. "The city is no help," she said.
Letters were sent out to businesses and residents in the immediate area, notifying them of the closure, Curtis said.
He acknowledged that the road work causes some headaches. He also sympathizes.
"It's frustrating to me, too, because I live on the west side," he said. "Personally, I'm inconvenienced also."
The $9.2 million project widens Gentile Street to allow for a continuous left-turn lane and allow for right-turn lanes at intersections. Crews have also replaced pipes under the roadway, and work is being done on sidewalks.
"It's the most aggressive undertaking we've ever done in the city in one fell swoop and also the most expensive," Curtis said.
Despite the inconvenience, when the project is finished it will enable the city to better handle growth in the west end, Curtis said.
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