Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 28, 1994 TAG: 9412280074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KIMBERLY N. MARTIN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Howard Dowe used to greet his customers with pleasantries. Now he begins with apologies.
He's trying to beat his customers to the inevitable punch - complaints about the street that leads to his business.
Dowe, the owner of Howard's Car Care, near Hotel Roanoke, has been fielding those complaints since work on realigning Wells Avenue began in June.
Instead of things getting better with time, however, they've gotten worse. In November, construction cut off his business' other lifeline: the Commonwealth Avenue ramp off Exit 5 of Interstate 581.
Wells Avenue and Exit 5 were Dowe's bread and butter. Daily, they funneled hundreds of potential customers past his Gilmer Avenue car-detailing shop, making it a plum locale.
The lot of his 13-month-old business stayed full, with a steady stream of cars to suds up and vacuum out. In fact, some days Dowe said he had more work than he and his four-person staff could handle.
But that was before remodeling of Hotel Roanoke began, and everything changed.
Now, he's had to lay off three of his workers, and he's dependent on newspaper advertisements to bring in business.
"I'm losing the daily eye contact with my customers," Dowe said. "Sixty-five percent of my business was drive-in, and I've lost that."
The losses aren't a surprise to Dowe. He knew what the future held for his business when city officials announced plans for the construction in the spring. So, in March, Dowe went to them with a proposal for help and compensation.
The city responded with a promise to keep one lane through Wells and Commonwealth open for Dowe's customers, plus erection of signs to direct drivers to the open lane. The rest of the proposal still is under consideration, said Bob Bengtson, the city's manager for the project.
There are seven $25 green-and-white signs posted: a couple on Williamson Road, one on Exit 5 and the others on the construction site.
"It's not at all uncommon for businesses to be affected by adjacent construction projects," Bengtson said. "We've done more here in terms of signage than usual."
But those signs must compete with the road barricades, which in most cases are about 10 times as large, and it's a contest the orange-and-white road-closed signs usually win.
C.M. Gillespie went to Howard's Car Care last Wednesday, and he was convinced that the access lane was closed.
"They had it blocked off," said Gillespie, a regular Howard's Car Care customer. He resorted to a longer alternate route behind the Civic Center.
He was right. The usual access lane was closed, but there was another lane open. That lane was partially concealed by traffic barrels.
Gillespie's confusion isn't uncommon. These days, the Wells Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue route is nothing short of an obstacle course.
Some days, bulldozers and tractor-trailers temporarily block the narrow entrance from Williamson Road, forcing Dowe's customers to take back routes through downtown and the Gainsboro neighborhood.
Most days, however, a lane is open. But that lane is only for the bravest of drivers.
A flagger waves drivers through a precarious course over soft orange-brown clay that is peppered with ditches and broken pavement and trucks driving in reverse.
"Would you bring your car through there?" Dowe asked. "There are four other detail shops right in this area, so why should customers come through all of this."
Despite his business' woes, Dowe doesn't blame the city for the construction.
"They've got a deadline but I've got deadlines, too, for my light bill, rent and telephone bill," said Dowe, who's been using the profits from his other detailing shop on Williamson Road to buoy his faltering downtown location.
When construction is complete, Dowe said, his proximity to Hotel Roanoke will once again be a blessing, instead of the curse it is now.
"They say, 'You can do well once the hotel opens up,' but what am I supposed to do between now and March? ... The only way I'll be here by then is by the grace of God."
by CNB