Frustrated business owners are stuck between two construction zones of a CDOT project in Pueblo.
Next month marks three years since CDOT’s construction project between Ilex Street and City Center Drive first started.
"Yeah, it’s been a long time," said ?Ted Skube, owner of Moore Automotive.
The project includes rebuilding bridges on northbound I-25 over Santa Fe Avenue and on Santa Fe Avenue over the Arkansas River.
Businesses caught between these two bridges tell news 5 their customer base has seen an impact.
"We’ve had customers tell us that […] once the construction is done, they’ll bring their vehicles to us," said Jeromie Carr, owner of Gen-Star Auto Electrical Services.
"It’s made it hard for a few of our customers to get here."
"There’s been a few that haven’t come around. A lot of them have complained about getting in and out and it’s been a hardship, it really has," added Skube.
Carr, also noting his parking lot didn’t look like this before the project started.
"The biggest thing is the heavy equipment running across the asphalt," said Carr.
"The asphalt is finally coming up to where now we have hole in the asphalt."
The contractor handling construction says they gave Gen-Star a letter guaranteeing they’d repair any damages.
But Carr says no one there got it.
"Neither one of us have ever been approached by either CDOT or Flatiron whether or not to grant access," said Carr.
"And I have not signed or seen a document from either source."
Both business owners believe the project will improve traffic in Pueblo.
"Once they get it done, the roads will be in a lot better shape and stuff and they should be able to move traffic better," remarked Skube.
But they want to know just how much longer they’ll have to cope.
News 5 spoke to a CDOT representative off-camera who said the expected completion date is April of 2019.
These business owners are a bit skeptical, but still anticipating the moment they can put this in the past.
"I’m looking forward to this project being done and I hope it gets resolved," added Carr.
"Oh, I’d like to see it get done!" exclaimed Skube.
CDOT also told News 5 they’re working with the contractor to find the letter they said they gave to Gen-Star.
And if they can’t produce it, CDOT said they’ll deal with the contractor directly to resolve the matter.
