Road construction season is underway and Valdez is feeling the affects. Business owner Laura Saxe of Eagles Rest RV Park said she is excited to see improvements, but feels local and state officials do not understand how much starting this project late and having an unclear plan is adversely affecting business. According to Saxe, the project is behind schedule and there is much confusion over where the construction will be each day.
“They are saying pavement won’t be started until July now and that is going to really hurt my business,” said Saxe. “I don’t know where they are going to be shutting down tomorrow. It has been very maddening. We have to look out the windows to get any answers and Jeff has been directing traffic because the signs are not clear”. Saxe said they have paid to have signage made up themselves to help direct traffic.”
“It’s kind of unorganized, which is horrible for business. We are trying to have an entrance into our business for RV traffic but signs are unclear and we have locals using Pioneer Drive as a main thoroughfare because they don’t know that Egan is open. Really a couple arrows letting people know where to go would go a long way”.
Ashley Chaffin, Owner of Sacred Grounds drive through coffee shop on Pioneer, said she is excited to see the outcome of the improvements but commented, “More communication would be a lot nicer. We aren’t really sure what window we can open and for awhile our customers had to make a u-turn to get into the one lane we could open. “This is a big time for us”, said Chaffin. “When the sun comes out we sell a lot of milkshakes”. “I just bought a new espresso machine that I have to pay off. I would hate to lose business because people don’t know how to access our shop”. Chaffin has attended planning meetings and expressed her concerns. The keys to minimizing the impact are the same now as they were at the start of the meeting. Chiffon said she needs her customers to have clear access to her business and to have the project move swiftly and wrap up in time to have beautiful new roads and sidewalks before the tourism season gets even busier.
Saxe said she and her husband attended many of the planning meetings for this construction project and feel their input to start early and move the project along were disregarded. “If they had started a month ago as they were planning, this whole mess could have been avoided,” Saxe said. “It’s unorganized, that’s all I can say”. In an interview, City Manager Dennis Ragsdale, told KVAK the City has allocated staff to work on communication with parties working construction projects in Valdez. Saxe is hoping for better communication with business owners and a more solid plan that minimizes business loss moving forward. Until that happens, Jeff will be on Pioneer Drive directing traffic.
