September 4, 2014 I The Lovell Chronicle 3
DAVID PECK
Lovell fourth-grader Kathryn Mickelson heads into the designated crossing zone on Shoshone Avenue in
Lovell Tuesday afternoon as S&L Industrial employee and crossing guard Desaree Wimmler looks on.
BUSINESSES ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES
well each night," she said.
As construction work-
ers cleaned up in front of
CK Hardware (70 East
Main) Tuesday ahead of
the block entering "soft clo-
sure" status, owner Cheryl
Knop said she's looking for-
ward to the street opening
up. When the detour was
moved to Montana Avenue,
the block from Montana
to Shoshone didn't become
a soft closure for several
days, with traffic blocked
at Montana.
"We've had some in-
credibly slow days," she
said. "It's bizarre seeing no
traffic go by on a Saturday
afternoon."
Knop said her "reg-
ulars" have continued to
come to the store for need-
ed items.
"I still appreciate those
who did continue to shop
to reach the building (at 8
East Main) offof Shoshone.
"I don't know if it's been
a huge impact," he said.
"People can come in from
the side and back. The reg-
ulars are here. If they need
to come in, they come in."
Tellers at the bank
agreed that there hasn't re-
ally been a drop-off.
Jim Davis at the Lovell
Building Center said other
than asking some construc-
tion workers to not block
his parking lot, the proj-
ect has "not been that bad"
for business. He was philo-
sophical about the project.
"It's got to be done,"
he said. "I hope they get it
done on their timeline. It's
got its ups and downs. We
opened the back gate up so
people could come in that
way."
He said in many ways
here," she said. "It's been a the project has been good
Iong, hard closure, and I'll
be glad to get it over. Ev-
eryone will be glad when
the whole project is done.
They've done the best they.
could with what they've
had."
Big Horn Federal
Branch Manager Joseph
Shumway said he hasn't
seen a huge effect at the
bank, with customers able
for bUsiness in Lovell.
"They've spent a lot of
money here (in town)," he
said.
Robert Voss at Best
Buy Auto Sales (187 E.
Main) said business "defi-
nitely slowed down" when
the project prevented look-
ers from seeing the cars on
the lot, but he said busi-
ness is returning.
continued from page one
"It's slowly coming
back," he said. "People
tend to steer away from
Main Street. But it's pick-
ing up slowly."
Hen House (210 E.
Main) owner John Lafko
said business has held up
pretty well, thanks to the
loyalty of his customers.
"Numbers wise, the
project didn't affect me a
ton," Lafko said. "Tourist
traffic was next to nothing.
When the street was closed
I didn't see one tourist,
but I don't depend a ton on
tourists. It's not like we're
in Cody.
"Most of my regular
customers made the effort
to shop here, which I'm
thankful for."
Now that the proj-
ect has moved west, Lafko
said business is picking up
again.
"We're seeing more
Walk-in people, and more
people are driving by, no-
ticing the store and coming
in," he said. "That's been
helpful. I just wish they'd
open the rest of the busi-
ness district."
Red Apple store man-
ager Mike Allred said the
project actually steered
customers to the store
when the western detour
turned at Shoshone Av-
enue, but even after the
hard closure reached the
store customers have con-
tinued to shop at Lovell's
only supermarket. He said
the fact that the store has
a number of ways to reach
the parking lot has helped.
"We're grateful for the
customers who continue to
shop with us," Allred said,
noting that customers have
been making fewer trips to
the store but buying more
on each trip, perhaps due
to the construction.
Craig Trumbull of the
Brandin' Iron Restaurant
said his tourism traffic
was greatly reduced by
the project this summer
as the traveling public
was steered to the north
side of town. But Trum-
bull has repeatedly ex-
pressed support for the
project, calling it a neces-
sary disruption.
"We're very blessed by
our local customers," he
said.
Trumbull said so-
cial media greatly affect-
ed motorcycle traffic com-
ing through Lovell. He
estimated motorcycle traf-
fic was cut in half as word
got out to steer around
Lovell.
BY DAVID PECK
The Lovell Main Street
Project has reached the end
of the street - at least when
it comes to detours.
After the construction
zone shrunk by one block
last week with the east de-
tour moving from Neva-
da to Montana, the zone
expanded Tuesday night
when the west detour
moved from Idaho to Great
Western, the furthest west
side street on Main.
Project officials for the
Main Street reconstruc-
tion and water and sewer
project had announced last
week that the west detour
would skip over Hampshire
as the project moved west
because with the median
strip remaining in place
around the sugar factory
corner some large trucks
would not be able to make
the turn at Hampshire.
With the detour remaining
in place at Montana, the
work zone now spans six
blocks - from Montana to
Great Western.
On a positive move for
the Main Street business
district, the block from
Montana to Shoshone was
being cleaned up Tuesday
to become a "soft closure"
mid-week, which would al-
low traffic to enter the block
for Main Street access to
businesses. Although the
detour was moved to Mon-
tana last week, there was
initially no soft closure on
the east end of the work
zone, but that changed this
week.
With Montana to Sho-
shone cleaned up and work
wrapping up this week
from Shoshone to Kan-
sas, project officials said at
Tuesday's public meeting
that the eastern detour will
jump to Kansas early next
week, freeing the central
business district for normal
traffic.
Supt. of Schools Rick
Woodford stopped by Tues-
day's meeting to ask about
the first day of school cross-
ing guards. S&L Industrial
crew leaders Kathy Baxen-
dale and Desaree Wimmler
reported that only about
eight students used the
crossing corridor estab-
lished on Shoshone Ave-
nue at Main and at Third,
but they also noted that
parents often drive kids to
school on the first day of
school and they expected
there to be more students
later in the week.
S&L is providing flag-
gers/crossing guards before
and after school.
STORM SEWER WORK
The Town of Lovell
has received permission
from the Wyoming Dept.
of Transportation to "stub
in" a storm sewer at Jer-
sey and Main. Lovell Town
Councilman Brian Dickson
explained that a heavy rain
can overwhelm the storm
sewer at Shoshone and
Park, creating a river "up
stream" on Jersey where
Circle Drive and Washakie
intersect. He would like to
see an additional inlet add-
ed to the storm sewer at the
Jersey and Washakie/Cir-
cle location.
In order to facilitate
what would be a project
down the road to place a
new inlet just south of Cir-
cle Drive on Washakie,
the town has asked for 15-
inch pipe be stubbed into
the WyDOT 30-inch storm
sewer on Main Street since
that point on the street is
already being torn up for a
new handicap ramp.
Dickson said the town
has been given the go
ahead, but he's not sure
whether the work will be
funded by the State Loan
and Investment Board or
by town funds. He said the
work will be performed
next week.
Eventually, the town
would like to install the
new inlet at Circle and Jer-
sey while replacing two
blocks of bad curb, gutter
and sidewalk and placing
the 15-inch reinforced con-
crete pipe under that sec-:
tion of sidewalk, Dickson
said. That project is likely
three to five years down the
road, he said.
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