On July 25, Von Husbands, owner of Red Barn Bar-B-Que in Colleyville, said he experienced the worst day in revenue he has had since the business opened 13 years ago at the corner of SH 26 and Glade Road.

Husbands said he attributes the decline in sales to the construction happening on SH 26.

“Ever since the orange barrels went up, I have seen a decline,” he said. “Overall it’s hurt business about 20-25 percent. On some days, depending on what they are doing on the project, it can be worse than that.”

The SH 26 Phase 2 project, which expands the roadway from John McCain Road to Brown Trail, began in November and is expected to be complete in 2019.

With around 400 businesses either having direct or indirect entry access points from the construction area, the Texas Department of Transportation project is along one of the city’s busiest shopping stretches.

Colleyville SH 26 Project Coordinator James Hubbard estimates 90 percent of the city’s businesses are located along SH 26.

Economic impact

With the closure of Bellismo and Taco Casa on SH 26 this summer, some residents are wondering if that is a sign of more to come and how it will affect economic development and sales tax revenue.

City Manager Jerry Ducay said he does not anticipate any sales tax revenue growth and has budgeted a flat sales tax revenue growth from last fiscal year.

Compared to last year’s sales tax revenue the city has seen steady sales tax revenue growth except for the last three months where the city saw a decline in sales tax revenue.

However, Ducay said he believes the city will continue to attract businesses despite ongoing road construction.

“I think most developers live well into the future, and most of their project entitlement processes can take a year or two years,” he said. “Most of the development community, in my opinion, will look at SH 26 over the next 12 to 14 months because they have to start the site selection now so that they can go through the entitlement process and finish their site development and construction in conjunction with the construction.”

And for existing businesses, Val Lopez, TxDOT public information officer, said the department will help businesses in any way it can.

“In regards to impact to businesses, TxDOT works very hard to minimize impact to them during construction,” he said. “While we cannot offer financial aid, to the best of our ability we avoid lane closures during peak driving times and/or conduct closures at night. We also schedule construction in such a way that access to a business is never completely closed. It is very much a balancing act between pursuing a project as quickly as possible while continuing reasonable access to businesses, with motorist and pedestrian safety above all else.”

Although some businesses have closed since construction, others have opened along SH 26, such as Pet Supermarket, Brazos Running Co., Tune Up The Manly Salon and ATI Physical Therapy.

Visibility issue

Husbands said he believes businesses are struggling because motorists are having a hard time seeing the businesses among the road barriers, construction cones and other signage.

“I’ve talked to the city on multiple occasions to try and get them to relax some of their sign ordinances to where we can put up banners encouraging people to come in; not necessarily to put up a banner to offer a special of sorts but to put a banner that says we are still here. They aren’t doing anything to help the matter, so me and several others are pretty frustrated about that.”

Parul Desai, owner of Milwaukee Joe’s, said summer is typically the busiest time of the year for the ice cream business, but because of construction her customer base is dwindling as well. She said Milwaukee Joe’s, which fronts Main Street, has been impacted by visibility issues especially with the intersection of Main and SH 26 closed due to construction.

“The signs are so small that people cannot see how to get in here,” she said. “People are so used to using Main Street to get here.”

Desai said she also been frustrated with communication.

“Nobody from the city or TxDOT stopped by to let me know Main Street was closing,” she said. “I only found out it was closing due to a sign. And the worst part about it is I still don’t know when Main Street is going to open back up.”

Communication efforts

Prior to SH 26 Phase 2 starting, Hubbard created a community outreach plan that included the city’s plan to communicate with businesses and residents.

“One of the ways [city staffs does] that is really [by serving] as a liaison between TxDOT and the businesses,” he said.

Since construction began, Hubbard has made changes to the plan, including adding text message alerts and putting updates on Facebook.

As of late July, 732 residents have signed up for text message alerts.