Royal Oak businesses say construction leading to lack of customer access
ROYAL OAK, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Construction in Royal Oak has some business owners up in arms, saying it's preventing paying customers from reaching their businesses.
The intersection of 14 Mile Road and Coolidge Highway is causing a bit of a headache for some. For business owners like Jason Eddleston, new construction prevents customers from reaching his door.
Eddleston owns Ray's Ice Cream, which is located along Coolidge Highway.
"Unfortunately, that work now for the next month during our busiest time of the year is shutting down 14 [Mile Road] and Coolidge, the main artery of customers getting here from the north end of town," he said.
According to the city, DTE started the work Monday reportedly for an electricity reliability project. The project, which is split into two phases, is slated to take about seven weeks to complete.
For businesses like Ray's Ice Cream, the summertime is the peak operational season.
"Since the beginning of construction, we've seen our business drop somewhere between 30% to 50% at night because of the inconvenience it has on our customers."
Along with the construction, Eddleston says he nor the other nearby businesses weren't given a heads-up. According to Royal Oak City Manager Paul Brake, it's state-regulated since it's DTE doing the work.
"It's the State of Michigan that regulates public utilities, not local municipalities," Brake said.
Eddleston's business sees the most traffic from 6-10 p.m.
"A perfect detour would be closing one of those lanes and keeping one of those lanes open throughout construction," he said.
Brake said DTE plans to double its construction crews in an effort to get the construction done in a quicker timeline.
"They have authorized their construction crews instead of working eight-hours days instead, they will have crews working 16 hours," he said.