PORT ANGELES — With project managers unable to predict with any certainty when the two Eighth Street Bridges will open, some nearby business owners are wondering how much longer they can last.
“We’re just barely hanging on to staying open,” said Barb Townsend, St. Vincent De Paul thrift store supervisor.
Said a frustrated Steve Bridges, owner of three businesses between the two bridges: “I’m running up against the wall.”
Once located on a thriving major arterial, businesses between Cedar and Lincoln streets on Eighth Street have been isolated since the replacement of the Tumwater Creek Bridge and the Valley Creek Bridge began in June 2007.
The bridges, which look finished, aren’t quite complete, say officials.
The project — which is funded by $21.6 million in state Department of Transportation grants and $3 million in city funds — was initially set to be complete in November.
At the end of November, Glenn Cutler, Port Angeles public works director, estimated that, with no weather-related delays, the bridges would be open by Monday.
Not Monday
That date will be missed, said Ingo Goller, Exeltech construction manager.
Goller said the Parsons RCI of Sumner needs about eight days of good weekday weather to finish applying a sealer onto the concrete before the bridges can be opened to traffic.
But with strict qualifications for good weather, he couldn’t estimate when the project will be completed.
On Thursday, Goller said Parsons had 16 working days left in its contract. That would extend until Feb. 20, without any issues with the weather.
City officials have announced no new date for reopening the bridges.
Bridges said his businesses — which include a burger joint, laundromat and tanning salon — are done for if the bridges aren’t open by March.
“I would hate to get this far, this close, and be forced into saying that I can’t make it anymore,” he said.
Bridges said he has run out of options for keeping his businesses open.
“I’ve extended my personal credit cards and took out a mortgage,” he said.
Bridges said he also can’t get a loan, partially due to the economic climate and the financial situation of his businesses.
Revenue at his laundromat, he said, was down 46 percent in 2008 when compared with the average of the last three years.
Bridges believes he can turn the businesses around if the bridges open soon.
May limit hours
Townsend said the thrift store, which uses profits to assist people in need, will have to begin limiting its hours in order to stay open if the project drags on into March.
Townsend said the thrift store went from 130 customers a day to 70 when the bridges closed.
“It’s been frustrating,” she said. “And we’re almost at the bottom.”
Bridges estimates that about 500 vehicles pass by his shops every day, which is a drastic cut from the 12,000 vehicles that drove by before the replacement project.
Ron Hankins, owner of Ron’s Barber Shop on Eighth and Pine streets, said his business has been able to weather the closure of the bridges due to a base of loyal customers.
But he said his business has seen a decline in walk-ins of about 30 percent since the closure.
One of those loyal customers is West Rayment, who was getting a trim on Thursday and lives off of Mt. Pleasant Road.
Rayment said he doesn’t mind taking the detour from Marine Drive to Cedar Street to get to the barber shop.
“When one steps into a barber shop, and they do a good job, you stay,” he said.
Grocery store
A couple of blocks to the west, on the corner of C and Eighth streets, the Grandview Grocery has made some adjustments in order to accommodate its customers during the closure.
Co-owner Jim Cromer said he has carried more of a variety of grocery items, because nearby residents are more willing to stop at the store than to drive to a supermarket because of the detours.
Cromer said business has decreased slightly, about 5 percent.
“I have no complaints,” he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
