Business owners hampered by construction projects

Yahoo

02-05-2025

SCRANTON — A pair of infrastructure improvement projects occurring simultaneously in and around the Green Ridge Plaza have business owners on edge and potential customers considering other options.
As Pennsylvania American Water continues work on a sewer-stormwater tank in the parking lot of the plaza, the state Department of Transportation forges ahead with its Green Ridge Street bridge replacement near the shopping center.
The new 780,000-gallon storage tank will reduce pollution into the Lackawanna River by 8 million gallons a year, or a 90% decrease, from what's called combined sewer overflows of wastewater and stormwater that occur during heavy rain, PAW officials said.
The tank is part of the Scranton Wastewater System Long-Term Control Plan to reduce overflow events from the system that, when built many decades ago, combined wastewater and stormwater flows.
The tank project began in March 2024 and is part of a $189 million investment in the Scranton wastewater system to improve service and protect local waterways, the company said.
PAW spokesperson Susan Turcmanovich said restoration work should be completed by the end of the year. Then, once the work is complete on Green Ridge Street, work will move again to the inside of the tank, she said.
Holly Warren, co-owner of Izzy's Pizzeria in the plaza, stressed road closures, detours and parking concerns continue to take a toll on the eatery since the stormwater project began about a week after its soft opening in February 2024.
'Our regular customers tell us there's been times they'll want the wings or pizza, and they forget about the bridge so they go somewhere else because they don't want to deal with all of that,' she said. 'A lot of customers are excited about our gluten-free stuff and the make-you-own pizzas — and want to return — but some of them will say 'I don't want to fight with that.' '
However, Warren and her husband, Jim, have been battling to keep both the pizzeria and their son's vision of the shop alive.
'We've been fighting and fighting, and right now we're on the fence of whether we're going to make it or we're not going to make it,' she said. 'This was my 15-year-old son (Izzy's) idea. He saved up the money for the pizza oven and he had the idea of making your own pizzas and the soda bar. This is his dream and we're just fighting to keep it open.'
A decrease in business also forced the Warrens to gut their staff, which Holly Warren described as 'heartbreaking.'
'We had to let all our employees go because we couldn't afford to pay them anymore,' she said. 'We had some teenagers who would work with us and they were such sweet kids.'
Meanwhile, large machinery associated with the bridge project rumbles around Sue Genovese's business, Garden Path, along Nay Aug Avenue, sending dust and dirt swirling around the property.
'Some days it's so bad that we had an elderly couple who came back in the store and waited until it passed, and we have to rinse the plants every day,' she said.
A detour on Nay Aug Avenue also leaves many drivers puzzled about how to navigate the area, Genovese said.
'They're turning around because they don't know where to go,' she said. 'We get a lot of people from Old Forge and Taylor, and we get people from Eynon and Carbondale. I want them to feel safe getting here.'
Uncertainty around customer turnout due to the traffic concerns had Genovese scrambling when trying to determine how much inventory will be needed during a typically busy time leading up to Mother's Day.
'I don't know how much to bring in because I don't know if people are afraid or disgusted to try to come here now,' she said.
PennDOT announced Dec. 4 it started an extended closure and detour of part of Nay Aug Avenue in Scranton for reconstruction as part of a project to replace the nearby Green Ridge Street bridge.
At the time, the detour of Nay Aug Avenue using Green Ridge and East Market streets and North Main Avenue was expected to last two years.
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Co-owner Sue Genovese talks about her concerns about the ongoing construction at the Garden Path in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Flowers in bloom at the Garden Path in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Ongoing bridge construction seen from the parking lot at the Garden Path in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Izzy's Pizzeria in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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City Touch Barber Shop and Salon in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Alex Paulino at his barber shop City Touch Barber Shop and Salon in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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The counter in Izzy's Pizzeria in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Pioneer Distributing Co. in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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The Garden Path in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Flowers in bloom at the Garden Path in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Co-owner Sue Genovese talks about her concerns about the ongoing construction at the Garden Path in Scranton on Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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The original two-lane bridge over the Lackawanna River, built in 1946 and partly upgraded in 1983, deteriorated and needed to be replaced, PennDOT officials said. Without replacement, the state would have to post weight limits that would block big trucks from supplying shopping centers and other businesses on Green Ridge Street.
To this point, a bridge with a pedestrian walkway attached is now complete, PennDOT spokesperson Jessica Ruddy said. The temporary bridge will accommodate two-lane, two-way traffic with an attached pedestrian walkway located on the upstream side of the bridge.
Currently, crews are grading and paving the temporary roadway approach to and from the temporary bridge, Ruddy said. Vehicle and pedestrian traffic is expected to be transferred from the existing bridge onto the temporary bridge this month, and then will continue to remain on the temporary bridge until the new bridge is complete in late 2025 or early 2026, according to PennDOT.
Once traffic is on the temporary bridge, demolition of the old Green Ridge Street bridge will begin, Ruddy said. Then, once the new Green Ridge Street bridge is complete, vehicular and pedestrian traffic will be transferred from the temporary bridge to the new Green Ridge Street bidge, and the temporary bridge will be dismantled and removed from the project site, she added.
The current construction cost for the bridge replacement project is $16.9 million and work is expected to be completed by fall 2026, Ruddy said.
Alex Paulino, owner of City Touch Barber Shop & Salon, a tenant of the plaza since August 2024, noted the limited parking and confusion over the detours keeps leading some prospective customers to avoid that area. Several barbers were playing cards to pass time during a slow period Wednesday afternoon.
'It's definitely impacting the business,' he said. 'Once the parking lot gets filled, it's kind of hard for them to park anywhere else. The majority of the new clientele will call and say we can't get into the parking lot, is there another way in? We'll explain it and nine times out of 10, they don't even come. They get detoured and end up going somewhere else.'
Jay Patel, who took over operations of Pioneer Distributing Co. on Green Ridge Street in late June, said he hasn't felt the same impacts from the construction work at this time.
'In all honesty, it hasn't really affected the business at all that much,' Patel said. 'We have no issues with it, at least not yet. We'll still get customers, although it's a little bit of a pain in the butt with that road closed off.'
Genovese understands the importance of both projects, but also believes the impact on surrounding businesses should be taken into consideration.
'I know we needed a new bridge — the concrete had been falling through,' she said. 'It needed to be repaired and I admire that it's getting done, but you don't know how things will flow. I keep picturing it being smooth and easy, but you just don't know. They don't have any concern for the fact that these businesses are on tenterhooks. I'm (also) grateful for the water project, because it's necessary. I love that the good things are being done, but it's just such a difficult thing.'