Well ahead of schedule but none too soon for some downtown business owners,
North Eighth Street will open to vehicle traffic on Friday.
The Sheboygan Press
Reach Eric Litke
July 27, 2006
Eighth Street between Ontario and Michigan avenues has been closed since May for a $900,000 makeover that includes complete repaving and new lighting and trees.
"I think there's probably not a vendor that's happier than I am," said Donna Cvetan, co-owner of The SkyBox Sports Pub & Grille. Sales there have been down 50 to 75 percent with the closing of Eighth Street and St. Clair Avenue, which cut off traffic access to The SkyBox, 1132 N. Eighth St., from all directions, Cvetan said.
"I think it's a great project. I think it's going to enhance the entire downtown, but it had a profound effect on us," she said. "It's just been a very long, difficult process. ... We are up and really ready to welcome our customers back."
The street was striped and nearly vacant Wednesday, apart from a few pallets of construction materials and electricians finishing up wiring for the street lighting. The lighting and parking meters will be installed within a few weeks, said Tom Holtan, city public works director and engineer. A ceremonial ribbon cutting has been set for 10 a.m. Aug. 10.
Holtan said the project was scheduled for completion at the end of August, but an original agreement gave contractors Buteyn-Peterson Construction Co. until October to complete the work, according to Jon Kleist, Buteyn-Peterson general manager.
"We had an excellent construction team of local contractors, all of whom knew how big of an issue it was for local business owners," Kleist said. "We did many operations at the same time in order to make it all happen."
The rebuilt street features wider sidewalks with brick-stamped accents matching Michigan Avenue-- which was redone over a four-month period last year -- as well as ornamental lighting and new trees, which will be planted in October, Holtan said.
Other changes along the three-block section of Eighth Street include angle parking, which Holtan said increased the number of spaces by about 50 percent and narrowed the roadway to slow traffic.
Allison McKeone, 32, of Sheboygan, who was pushing a stroller through the construction zone on her way to the Fountain Park Farmer's Market on Wednesday, said her 2-year-old son, Beckett, will be sorry to see the construction crews go.
"We've been down here watching the workers, the bulldozers and all that good stuff," she said, gesturing toward Beckett. "We were like stalking the workers down here."
But Lori Polk, on her way to lunch at The SkyBox on Wednesday, was glad to hear the orange and white barriers will be disappearing soon. The construction made it hard for her to get to work at nearby TLC Homes and forced The SkyBox, a favorite lunch spot, to stop serving lunch, Polk said.
She said she understands why the construction has hurt some of the Eighth Streetbusinesses.
"I wouldn't have come to the business if I had to drive," said Polk, 43, of Sheboygan.
But Jon Churchill, manager of Not Just Soccer, 1226 N. Eighth St., said his sales have been unchanged from last year, which he credited to having a parking lot accessible from Michigan Avenue.
"Hopefully we're done -- for two years we've had our fillings shaken out," said Churchill, 45, referencing last year's $2 million Michigan Avenue project. "We're lucky because we're on the corner and we've got the parking lot."
John LaBouve, owner of Goodell Music, 1104 N. Eighth St., said his business has been down during the construction, but only about 10 percent.
"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," LaBouve said. "Everyone commented when they walked in the store, but they still walked in."
