EMSWORTH BOROUGH, Pa. — A small section of roadwork is causing big trouble for some business owners.
A portion of Camp Horne Road in Emsworth Borough has been closed since Aug. 15 while crews rebuild a retaining wall. Though the road closure is only a few hundred feet, the posted detour is 8 miles. This not only takes drivers substantially longer, but is also affecting some businesses.
Camp Horne connects busy Route 65 to even busier Interstate 279. On the I-279 side, the “road closed” sign is 1 1/2 miles from the actual closure, and businesses on that stretch said they’re doing what they can to make sure people know they’re still open.
Mike Stachel, owner of Sunny Jim’s, said volume is down 30 percent compared to last year because of the construction.
“You can still get to us from 279,” Stachel said. “It’s tough on everybody. We had to cut hours, cut our employees’ hours. A lot of our employees are having a tough time because a lot of their income is from tips.”
Stachel said more customers have started to find him in the past couple of weeks. He said his regular customers have kept coming, but he often gets business from people who stop by on a whim.
“You always get the people who say, 'Let’s stop in and get something to eat. Let's have a bite to eat before we go to the game, before we go to the airport,' and we’re losing all that traffic," he said.
On the Route 65 side of Camp Horne, another business owner said his company has not been affected by the closure.
"We’re so specialized, so it’s not a point where any people need to use us for convenience other than local homeowners," David Lang, president of Bethlehem Wire and Fence Co., said.
The closure is just a few hundred yards from the company, and Lang said he’s glad that Allegheny County is finally fixing the retaining wall.
“I basically gave it a thumbs up immediately. The wall has been deteriorating along Camp Horne and Lowries Run Creek and has been in bad shape for quite a few years,” Lang said.
County officials said Tuesday that they have not heard from any businesses about any loss of revenue.
County officials said the contractor is ahead of schedule and they are waiting for some construction materials to be delivered Tuesday or Wednesday. Officials said the section of road is on track to reopen by the end of November.
Public Works Director Steve Shanley said in a statement:
"The contractor finished pouring his concrete footer ahead of schedule and is waiting for the DuraHold blocks to be delivered. The blocks are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow or Thursday and operations will begin again. It is the contractor's responsibility to schedule his day-to-day operations and coordination of work. We oversee these operations, and to date the contractor has actively pursued all work available to him. We still anticipate to complete the project by the end of November."We received calls and emails at the beginning of the project regarding the inconvenience of the detour and not enough signage telling people the road was closed. We worked with Ohio Township police to add additional signs and we also added variable message boards. After these initial complaints, we have not heard from any businesses regarding loss of business."
PREVIOUS STORY: Camp Horne Road to be closed until mid-November (9/15/16)
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