SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -
A road that connects Sioux City's Wesley Parkway to Hamilton Boulevard has been under construction since spring. Now that it's open, city officials anticipate positive results for drivers and the local economy.
Another new road in Sioux City, but city officials say it's more than that.
"Wesley Way will be the new gateway to the north side," said Paul Eckert, city manager.
The Wesley Parkway extension now connects West 7th street to Hamilton Boulevard.
"If you're coming in to Sioux City at Wesley, you can get to the downtown. This will take you right to the west side and the Hamilton portion also. So, as a gateway, yeah, Wesley's where we want people to come into Sioux City," said Chris Payer, city engineer.
Besides being convenient for drivers, the city says it'll open up opportunities for business.
"I think if you look at it right now, you'll in fact see a few for sale signs. I think people realize the opportunity when they look at how attractive... and the traffic utilization, the traffic count is going to be very high onto Wesley Way," said Eckert.
The $4.7 million road is part of a city project, and officials say it's worth every penny.
"We used surface transportation dollars, which was essentially money that we get as a city to spend on larger road projects that lots of people will travel on," said Payer.
The project will officially be done next spring, with clean-up, sidewalk work, and a dedication ceremony to come.
In conjunction with the Wesley Parkway Connection project, there was plenty of construction going on along Hamilton Boulevard this summer, which impacted several businesses.
One of those, George's Hot Dog Shoppe.
With entrances to the restaurant blocked by construction, customers were forced to take a detour.
The result, a staggering loss in revenue.
"It was affecting us 70 to 80%. Some people that come in 10 or 15 minutes, and now it was taking them like a half hour. And people that have their lunch for a half hour couldn't make it. So, they avoided coming here, and that's why our business went bad," said Mary Demetroulis, co-owner.
Restaurant owners say business was so bad, they debated closing.
It's something they hadn't even considered in the more than 37 years they've been open.
But with the Wesley Parkway connection open, they're hopeful in what lies ahead.
"I pray that everybody will come back and we'll have the same routine like before," said George Demetroulis, owner.
The city says the detours were put in place to minimize negative impact and that "additional sign posting" was allowed.
Now that the new connection is open, the city hopes it'll allow for better traffic flow and result in positive economic business boost.
Construction is complete on the Wesley Parkway, Hamilton Boulevard connection.
