Business owners near Taylorsville say project has strained revenue
Nov 6, 2021, 12:05 PM | Updated: 12:30 pm
(Construction barrels on the east side of the Bangerter Highway on 6200 South, diverting traffic north. Photo: Paul Nelson)
(Construction barrels on the east side of the Bangerter Highway on 6200 South, diverting traffic north. Photo: Paul Nelson)
TAYLORSVILLE – Business owners near Taylorsville said road work has put a significant strain on their revenue. The end of the construction project on Bangerter Highway at 6200 South can’t come soon enough for business owners near the construction site.
Business owners feeling revenue strain due to construction
Crews are in the middle of changing all of the intersections along Bangerter to overpasses and off-ramps, making the highway look more like every other freeway. When the construction started on the 6200 South overpass, business owners like Veronica Benson with Twisted Sugar saw their sales drop.
She said, “We saw business start to reduce all throughout the summer, and I just didn’t think that the road would close down, completely. When they told us, at first, I was really shocked.”
Bangerter closure diverts traffic away from business
Officials with UDOT decided to close the east-west traffic on 6200 South because of a high number of crashes in the construction zone over a short amount of time. When that happened, Benson says roughly 85 percent of the traffic that passed her cookie shop was diverted around the area. Plus, she says they won’t receive any kind of assistance for lost revenue.
Benson said, “I feel like we’ve been thrown out and [told], ‘OK, good luck. We hope you make it.’”
On the other hand, she states her regular customers have been very supportive.
“It has been amazing to see, and hard at the same time. Yet, there’s nothing you can do about it,” she said.
UDOT encourages community to support businesses during construction
“Construction can be hard on businesses and we encourage the community to come out and show their support,” according to UDOT Spokesman John Gleason.
Crews will be completing “touch up” projects for the rest of 2021, but Gleason adds traffic will resume as normal for the holiday shopping season.
Gleason also said, “Barring any major winter storms, we’re looking at opening up the east-west traffic on 6200 South just in time for Thanksgiving.”
