A section of Queen Street is open today but not before one downtown businessman said the work hurt his business.
Brian Lucas, water resource manager at Kinston Public Services, said most of the work to repair the sewer main on the intersection of Queen Street and Vernon Avenue had been taken care of earlier in the week. Late week, crews just needed to fill the hole they made in the roadway.
“All the pipes are fixed,” Lucas said. “We’re working on filling in the holes and resurfacing the road. If things go well, we’ll be finished by (this) morning at the very latest.”
Travelers had to find alternative routes to drive through, businesses around the area were affected some, with several entrances blocked. Still, most didn’t experience too many problems with sales, except Wise Cleaners.
“I’m the only business affected by it, and have lost about 90 percent of my business due to the closure,” owner David Wise said early this week. “On Tuesday I had nine customers, and they were the ones who dropped their clothes off earlier and needed them back.”
Ina Sutton, who has been working with Wise Cleaners for over 30 years, said the business is very hard to reach due to the barricades.
“Due to the construction, we can’t reach our quota,” Sutton said. “The city has us blocked off from red light to red light, and we’re the only business closed off. People have been calling and asking for directions, but most have just not come.”
Wise said he understands the city needed to repair the road, but wanted to have the opportunity to warn customers.
“I received no warning whatsoever from the city,” Wise said. “I’ve had customers who called and said they had to come in on Peyton Avenue and park in the back.”
KPS Director Rhonda Barwick said Wise didn’t receive a warning because she thought the repair would be taken care of with minimal hassle initially.
“It started off as a routine sewer repair, but when they started digging in ground we realized it had been worse,” Barwick said. “If we knew, we would’ve told him and advertised it in advance. We had no idea it would evolve like this.”
Barwick said there had been some plans initiated to allow people inside of Wise Cleaners.
“At first, the equipment blocked off his entrance, but we were able to move and give access,” she said. “He seemed pleased about it.”
KPS Assistant Director Steve Miller said the delay took him by surprise, but extensive work is being done.
“When we started into this project, we thought it would be a repair that lasted only a couple of hours,” Miller said. “That’s the reason there was no notice about the closure.
“If customers need access, they can go through one of the side streets to get there. The street is only closed to thru traffic, but we’re working hard to get it open.”
Kinston City Manager Tony Sears said the decline of business at Wise Cleaners was an unfortunate and unintentional circumstance.
“Sometimes, we’re faced with situations that progress from what was initially considered routine,” he said. “We apologize to anyone adversely affected by the street closure.”
Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.