Owners Waiting for Roadwork to Wrap Up

WASHINGTON -- Businesses along the 'P' Street corridor in the District say they have been losing money because of ongoing roadwork. Local transportation and city leaders stopped by Wednesday to assure those businesses the work is more than halfway done.

Since January, the stretch of 'P' Street in Northwest, between 20th and 23rd streets, has been ground zero for a huge $3.5 million street-scape project conducted by DDOT.

"Barriers came up, parking spaces were gone, there was dust, debris," says Elias Khalil, owner of Stars Bistro and bar on 20th and 'P' Streets. "For the summer, we rely a lot on our sidewalk café. This sidewalk café was non-existent. We lost a good 70 percent of our business from the sidewalk cafe."

Up the block, Mark Medley, co-owner of Mark and Orland's Restaurant says things haven't been great for him either.

"It is kind of weird in the restaurant business to say Saturday night's are poor, but that's because no one is coming down here," he says. "Late spring is when I started realizing from regulars, I would say 'I haven't seen you in a while.' They would say 'I can't find a parking spot.'"

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty lent his support to the businesses.

"We are going to get this project done as fast as humanly possible. And when it is finished it is going to be something that they, and the rest of the city, can be very proud of."

The actual work, which the D.C. Department of Transportation is hoping to wrap up in April, has been extensive at times. Streets have been ripped up, sidewalks have been taken out and construction equipment has been rumbling and grumbling back and forth.

When the work is finished, the stretch of 'P' Street is expected to have all brick sidewalks (some which are already in place), new streetlights and updated traffic signals and pavement.

Vehicular and pedestrian traffic has remained open during the work, but it hasn't been easy for the businesses to lure them in.

They are looking forward to the day when all the work is finished.

"I hope to get back to making money so I can pay those bills I couldn't pay a couple of months ago," said Medley.

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