Business Owners: Black Friday Bad Timing For Orange Barrels

PICKERINGTON, Ohio—Business owners in Pickerington said they aren’t too happy about construction projects slated through Black Friday.

Starting Monday, a construction project on Hill Road in Pickerington will detour drivers from more than 25 businesses, according to Mike Todd, a Dairy Queen owner.

“Every penny counts these days, this is poor planning by the city,“ Todd said.

The problem is that the construction project is slated to go until Sunday, Nov. 29—through Black Friday.

According to Pickerington city officials, the project will replace a culvert that runs underneath Hill Road.

“The current pipe is in bad shape, and we can’t wait until winter to get it done,“ said the city engineer.

According to city officials, the hope is that the project will be complete in three days, instead of the seven days originally planned.

The City of Dublin has invested millions of dollars in building up the downtown area, but while construction is underway, it’s causing more than a few headaches for local businesses.

Brenda Kocak is the owner of Modern Male Spa, which has been in business for six years. For the past year, projects have been ongoing on every corner near her salon.

“It’s a deviation of traffic flow and clients (not) being able to get to us, it’s been devastating,“ Kocak said.

Private contractors worked to dig up and repave around a main entrance to the spa, causing extreme difficulty for clients to get to and from her business.

“Since we’re trying to keep our businesses going … with the economy and … with this construction project, could (the city) work with us, it would be a little bit better,“ she said.

Kocak said she knows the work needs to be done, but claims she made a verbal agreement that the work would be done early in the week and not during her busiest time of the week—which is on Thursdays and Fridays.

Mike Racey, with the City of Dublin said the city never made any promises on what day the project would move forward and that, “the reason the project took so long was weather related” and that it took a while to bury utility services.

For additional information, stay with nbc4i.com and NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com—Where Accuracy Matters.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail us at .
NBC 4 POLITICS: Headlines, Interactives & Video
MORE: NBC 4 Local News | Local Crime News
NBC 4 SPORTS: Sports News, Video