West St. Cloud Businesses Struggling Amid Road Construction

(KNSI) – A St. Cloud business owner says the county construction project on Roosevelt Road/2nd Street South has cut the number of customers he is serving in half.

Up In Smoke BBQ’s Tim Hoefer says the work shifted into high gear too quickly. The entire project from Cooper Avenue to Highway 15 should be completed by October. The speedy timeline is too fast in that it has made it nearly impossible for customers to reach Up in Smoke BBQ, but not fast enough for the restaurant to weather the loss in sales.

For westbound traffic on 2nd Street, there is no way for them to get to the strip mall where the eatery is located. All of the turn lanes have been closed off starting at 25th Avenue.

He says, “My general manager, he’s from out of town. He’s from the Zimmerman area — Princeton/Zimmerman area. This morning, he finally got so sick of it he pushed his way through a cone just to get in here.”

Hoefer says those trying to come in the back way off of West St. Germain by the Affinity Plus Credit Union branch also run into road closed signs. The only option is to take 33rd Street South and navigate around Miller Marine and the car dealership. Hoefer says most customers won’t do that for a restaurant when other options are nearby.

Adding to Hoefer’s consternation is the fact that Up in Smoke BBQ is a relatively new establishment. He says, “If we make it another 30 days, I’ll be shocked because we had no warning of it. One Friday, the cones showed up. They started tearing everything up the following Monday.”

Hoefer says he has petitioned city and county officials, but they say their hands are tied. The project is being paid for partially through federal funds, which must be used by a certain date.