NORTHAMPTON — Businesses on Damon Road need to hold on until next summer before the traffic havoc caused by ongoing road reconstruction clears up, and the situation continues to try the patience of people who use the heavily traveled corridor every day.
The repaving work that took place between Bridge Street and the River Run condo complex last week — 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. every weekday — is complete, although traffic on Monday morning was still reduced to a single lane in that area and construction vehicles were navigating between a row of orange barrels lined up in the middle of the street.
The $9.5 million reconstruction project started in September 2020. Massachusetts Department of Transportation contractors are making roadway improvements and drainage repairs, and adding signage, along a 1.1-mile stretch between Route 9 and the Route 5 & 10 intersection.
The work is scheduled for completion sometime next summer. Efforts to contact MassDOT for further information were unsuccessful.
MassDOT encourages drivers to dial 511 or visit www.mass511.com for real-time traffic conditions before traveling. The website also provides incident advisories and lets users sign up for text alerts.
“To put it mildly, it sucks,” Consign 360 employee Carol Vincent said of the ongoing traffic headaches during a recent interview, and there is “no end in sight.”
At times, two of the three vehicle entrances to the Damon Place plaza have been closed off by fencing or barrels while the third is blocked by trapped commuters. Vincent said the apparel store has kept its grand opening sign on display for two years in order to attract the gaze of drivers stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Last week’s repaving effort caused “the worst week for traffic” so far, she said, and some consignors rescheduled their trips to avoid it. One day, she said, the shop saw two customers.
“I just hope when it’s done, it’s beautiful and the shop takes off,” she said. “We have a lot going against us” because the roadwork started during the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, several of the businesses in the plaza were closed or taking appointments only. The plaza is home to a Copycat print shop, a nail salon, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu studio, a law office and a variety of small enterprises.
An employee at Sew Good, which provides garment alterations and dry cleaning to walk-in customers, identified herself as Park and said her parents own the business. The family carpools whenever possible to ensure that they arrive in time to open, she said.
“It’s bad. … Customers have been saying they don’t want to come because of the traffic,” so they wait as long as they can, Park said. “It’s actually a lot better right now. It was bad, I think, last week, and the week before was probably one of the worst. There’s just a lot of dust, too, that comes in.”
She said the traffic problems were less pronounced during the height of the pandemic because of an overall decrease in in-person business transactions. Now that more customers are starting to spend again, the businesses on Damon Road are still waiting to see a meaningful boost.
When two of the three entrances are blocked, she said, customers tend to enter the plaza all at once and walk in at around the same time.
Bijal Patel was behind the counter of Mock’s Convenience Store for part of the repaving work. She is owner Biren Patel’s sister. She said business at the shop’s ice cream and fresh grinder window is a shadow of its former self.
“They’re doing a good thing, but surviving during this period, that is really tough,” Bijal Patel said. “The last two months, three months. Last year was a little better, but this year is affected.”
Nearly three hours after opening, she said, there had been only two customers. She said that people don’t stop in when they’re already late for work and they won’t wait in virtually standstill traffic to get an ice cream cone.
“This road is really good for the business, but since this work is going on, we’re really slow until, like, 4 o’clock,” she said. “Once it will be done, it will be all good.”
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.