Jackson businesses worry about effect of roundabout project

With construction beginning Tuesday on an uptown roundabout, Jackson businesses are getting proactive to ensure residents continue shopping uptown.

"We are kind of nervous about it slowing our business down," said Lisa Walker, co-owner of High Street Station uptown.

Jackson public works director Rodney Bollinger said the construction should be minimally disruptive to motorists, and that the detour should only be necessary for commercial trucking.

That detour will divert trucks coming north on Route 25 east along East Jackson Boulevard to South Shawnee Boulevard, which will take motorists north before heading west on East Main Street to Washington Street and back onto northbound U.S. 61 and vice versa.

"Frohnabarger is going to keep Washington [Street] opened up until the end stage of the project," he said. "Ninety percent of the construction time, they will have that open, and by the time they need to close it for construction at that intersection, the roundabout portion will be finished and open at the East Main [Street] intersection."

He said it made good sense to keep Washington Street open as much as possible because the post office will remain open throughout the duration of the project. There also are signs scheduled to go in at critical intersections uptown showing the easiest ways to navigate there.

"We're going to get you from wherever you're coming from to the uptown merchants," he said. "If you're in a car and you're a Jacksonian, you're going to find the path of least resistance. ... I hope it's not going to be that inconvenient to residents. It's the trucks we're concerned with mainly."

He said the time frame for construction was chosen to mitigate the closures' effects on the busiest shopping season of the year.

"The city and the merchants wanted it done before the holiday season," he said.

Walker said she's grateful for the roundabout and the fact it's scheduled to be done before the holiday rush, but she remains somewhat nervous about the project.

"The fourth quarter really makes or breaks a small business," she said. "That's always been our goal, to be done before the holiday season. We're just hoping that the weather's good and that [construction is] able to stay on schedule."

Some businesses are getting creative to spur uptown interest during the project, just in case.

"One thing we're doing is offering a 'Roundabout Rewards Card,'" she said.

So far, 10 merchants are participating in the promotion by offering discounts or percentage deals for cardholders from Memorial Day through Labor Day, at which point cardholders will be entered into a raffle to win a $500 shopping spree to participating uptown businesses, Walker said.

She said she expects about five more merchants to join the promotion before Memorial Day.

The Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization, with uptown merchants, also are sponsoring a billboard on U.S. 61 that will remind motorists they will still be able to get to uptown Jackson "in a roundabout way."

The billboard should be installed by June 1, and most uptown merchants also are promoting directions to their locations on social media.

Walker said in the end, her faith in her customers is the most comforting.

"There's a kind of fear of the unknown, but in Jackson, our customers are so loyal," she said.

During a previous beautification project, she said, customers crossed a makeshift walkway over a ditch to go shopping.

"That's how dedicated they are," she said. "They'll even walk the plank for us."

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627