Businesses Dreading Huntington Street Repair Project

Local businesses are bracing for a street repair project funded by federal stimulus money that could prove to be a "nightmare" to traffic along Huntington Drive when resurfacing on a stretch of the thoroughfare begins next month.

Construction crews will descend on a one-mile segment of Huntington from Magnolia to Fifth Avenues, on each side to repair the concrete that has cracked and lifted in several places.

Councilman Joe Garcia said the project would be a "nightmare" for traffic when discussing the project at the council meeting earlier this week.

Business owners who operate in the repair zone said the work will definitely impact their business, but they don't yet know to what extent.

"I think it is very concerning," said Hai Han, manager of . "It will probably drive traffic away. [Customers] will probably go somewhere more convenient."

Han said the street isn't in bad enough condition to be resurfaced, adding that he thought the project was "useless." Widening the street would be more beneficial to business in the long run, he said.

Cindy Perez, co-owner of the clothing store on Huntington, said she also expects business to be negatively affected by the project.

"It will affect us, we don't know to what degree," Perez said.

Perez said her store relies heavily on passers-by coming in to shop, and there will be fewer people that see her store, and fewer places to park on the street, when the repair project gets underway.

"You do have a lot of people that recognize us that way and they pull over," Perez said. "If there's a lot of traffic that may discourage it or they may say I've got to stop another time."

Perez said she called the city to find out more about the project but was told she should receive a letter with more information before March 7, when preliminary work will begin.

Monrovia spokesman Dan Bell has said the city is planning an extensive outreach effort to let the community know about the potential delays on Huntington, but none of the business owners contacted by Patch this week knew about the project yet. Perez said she'd prefer to be apprised of something like this well before work begins.

The city awarded a contract worth about $1.3 million to a construction company on Tuesday, and work is expected to run from March to June. Damage caused to Huntington from heavy rainfall last year made the project necessary, according to a staff report prepared by Monrovia Public Works Director Ron Bow.

A shorter stretch of Huntington--as well as portions of other streets--will also be repaired as part of the project. Resurfacing work will be done on Huntington from Mountain Avenue to Shamrock Avenue, on Duarte Road from Encino Avenue and Magnolia, and on Grand Avenue from Greystone Avenue to Prospect Avenue.

Ocie Henderson, the owner of on Huntington, said the project will be especially cumbersome for the morning commute. He said he's sure that business will be down while the project is going, but wasn't worried that it would have a dramatic impact on sales.

"I've noticed it's always a negative impact any time you interrupt a traffic flow, but it's not to the point where I'll go out business," Henderson said.

hair salon owner Bernadette Haring said that her business would probably notice only a minimal impact since they rely largely on customers who make appointments. Still, traffic and parking issues will definitely cause delays, she said.

And there is little that she or other business owners can do besides grin and bear it, Haring said.

"We'll probably wait and see what happens," she said.