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Politics & Government

Business Drops 30%, Merchant Blames Construction

Patch explores one of three construction projects causing local businesses concern.

Jill Braverman, co-owner of the in Bannockburn Green, is not happy to see orange construction barrels along the intersection of Half Day and Waukegan Road.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is currently widening Half Day Road, on the heels of a recent repaving project. 

“It’s just difficult as business people” to lose customers due to the inevitable traffic delays, she said. She said business has fallen around 30 percent during the construction period for the Dog Out, and she said other business people in her shopping center complain of similar problems. 

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Earlier: Construction Slows Traffic, Local Businesses Suffer.

“People can’t get here,” Braverman said, arguing in particular that office workers that use Half Day Road to come east toward her restaurant are avoiding the traffic jams. “People can’t spend 20 minutes to travel” to their lunch destination, she said. “They’ve stopped coming,” she said.

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She hopes that by telling her story people will be reminded to patronize the local hangouts.

Her husband’s attempts to contact the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the government body in charge of the Bannockburn road-widening construction project, haven’t proved satisfying, she said. His attempts are now laminated and posted on the restaurant’s front window.

On the other hand, Village of Bannockburn officials insist that the improvements are necessary and will ultimately help keep businesses like Braverman’s profitable. It's estimated that construction for the widening project will last at least through next year. 

“Sometimes we don’t have the luxury of determining the dates” that IDOT will pursue its projects, said David Korer, Bannockburn’s road commissioner. Korer said the work needed to be pursued this year in order to make use of available stimulus funding. “Otherwise, we’d be talking about this project…years from now” and wishing we’d done it, he argued. 

"I certainly understand the frustration....But we’re glad to have all these infrastructure needs addressed,” he said. “I’m not apologizing a moment for this project,” Korer said.

Bannockburn’s village manager, Maria Lasday, said she drives around the project daily to check the traffic flows, and is pleased with the results. The contractors are working diligently to make traffic pass as smoothly as possible, she said.

Residents “have asked us to improve the quality of life,” Lasday said. The ongoing projects help achieve that, she said, and make moving to Bannockburn a more attractive option to potential businesses and home buyers.

The Village of Bannockburn will begin a storm drainage project on July 25, causing a temporary lane closure south of the Half Day project and near Deerfield High School. However, a southbound lane will remain open at all times, according to the village website.

Meantime, local merchants experiencing a short-term shrinking customer base wish it could have been planned differently, with patrons finding travel difficult around the Bannockburn-Deerfield construction zones. “Why all at the same time?” Braverman questioned.

For planned road construction projects in Bannockburn and details about the Half Day Road widening, head to Bannockburn.org.

The third and final installment of this series on Monday will focus on the Lake Cook Road construction project.

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