FOX VALLEY, WI (WTAQ) – Fox Valley road work is causing a headache for several businesses in the area and has forced some of them to close for good.
The 441 Tri-County Project started in early August and includes widening the highway’s bridges over Oneida Street to six lanes and transitioning from a six-lane roadway to an existing four-lane roadway east of the interchange to help improve the flow of traffic.
Terrance Wilder the owner of Owner of Wilder’s Cutting Edge Bistro said he can’t wait for the project to wrap up so he can get back to business as usual.
“We just got to weather the storm and as of right now we are looking at a little more than two months before its all over,” said Wilder.
Since the construction started Wilder said his sales are down more than 60 percent, so he’s trying new ways to get people in the door.
“We have road construction signs up by the highway, we do buy one get one free meals, anything to keep our name out here but it’s been tough,” explained Wilder.
Just down the road Richard Niemuth, the owner of Niemuth’s Southside Market said he is experiencing the same problems and has had a decrease in sales for the last couple of years.
“The road construction has put a damper on our participation of the last two years of the economy,” said Niemuth. “We Just need all the help we can get to get people in here and shopping. This is going to be the hardest,” he said.
Fox11 reached out to the Mayor of Appleton and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to see if anything is being done to help these businesses during construction, but no one from either office was available to comment.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says the 441 Tri-County Project should be done by November of 2019.
