ROGERS, Ark. — Arkansas street in downtown Rogers is still under construction.
It has been, for over a year now, and has blocked off access to many local businesses.
The city started construction on Arkansas street to expand the commercial footprint and add more access to parks and trails. But with unexpected challenges, construction has taken a lot longer than everyone expected.
“As you can imagine, it’s a fairly complex construction project. Those are old roads, it’s a very tight space, and so as we tear up the old street, we find things we didn’t expect to find,” said John McCurdy, Rogers Director of Community Development.
And they found the unexpected: A whole railroad under the street. McCurdy says replacing sewer and water lines, as well as supply shortages, have also slowed down the process.
“We have a tremendous amount of construction going on in Northwest Arkansas right now, so we’re competing with other road projects, with the new Walmart headquarters, so everybody’s scrambling for concrete and asphalt and steel,” McCurdy said.
Crews are completing the construction a block or two at a time to minimize detours, but some businesses along the stretch say they're still having problems.
“I always had people coming in whether it be just for a question or actual service right then and there, but since this construction has started, that has died. That has ceased, it is non-existent now,” said Ivan Gaucin, the owner of Ernesto Auto Service.
Ernesto’s Auto Service has been here since 2001. Owner Ivan Gaucin says he’s now relying on regulars to keep his business going.
“There’s no good way around it because there’s just no good way here. It’s all through construction and it’s all through detours and it’s all through dirt roads, and not everybody wants to go through that,” Gaucin said.
Gaucin says this is affecting neighboring businesses too, and he has a message for the city.
“Just finish it. Just finish. That’s it. Just finish and get the traffic back, get people back into downtown because this isn’t just affecting me, it’s affecting people on this side of the tracks and on the other side of the tracks, this isn’t helping anyone,” Gaucin said.
And completing the construction would mean a great deal to Gaucin.
“Just a weight lifted off my shoulders because at that point I know people can get to me,” Gaucin said.
The city says the construction should be completely finished by the spring of next year. But if there’s good weather and no more supply shortages, crews could be done as early as this fall.