COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Coeur d’Alene is working on some big construction projects, including repaving large sections of Sherman Avenue downtown.
Road work has been happening on Sherman Avenue since July 8. It’s expected to be finished by July 30.
The roadway is fully closed from 2:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. each morning. It’s also partially closed from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.
For businesses along the roadway, the construction comes at an inconvenient time during the height of summer tourism.
It’s especially difficult for places like Vault Coffee that do a lot of business in the morning.
“We’ve had a lot of customers complaining about finding parking and saying ‘why wouldn’t they do this in the fall?'” said Vault Coffee barista Timarie Maxwell.
Maxwell said summer tourism is still going strong and there’s plenty of people walking downtown.
Residents, however, said it’s been hard to find parking and they are confused with how some traffic is being redirected.
Amy Cordette said she’s having trouble finding parking, but she does have a few tips to help avoid traffic.
“Definitely avoid coming down here on the weekends,” Cordette said. “I would recommend coming down during the weekdays, probably before 3 p.m.”
Other businesses in the area said they haven’t seen any impact from the construction.
Justin Dejeu from Electric Age Tattoo on Sherman Avenue said they’re still getting plenty of business, but they’re still looking forward to the end of the project next week.
“It would be a little easier when it’s not (Summer),” Dejeu said. “Summer is peak tourism. All of us, all of the businesses down there I would assume, we rely on a lot of tourism business in the summer.”
Dejeu said he wishes construction was happening in the Spring or Fall when business is typically slower.
COPYRIGHT 2024 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
