BY RAY SCHAEFER
Enquirer Contributor
COLD SPRING -- Construction on U.S. 27 continues to harm some businesses. Some have suffered little, and others are trying new strategies to attract lost customers.
The latest stretch of torn-up concrete runs about 4.7 miles, between Cold Spring Elementary School at the corner of U.S. 27 and Ripple Creek Road to Washington Street in Alexandria, near Campbell County Middle School.
Joe Kearnes, chief district engineer at the state Department of Highways district office in Fort Mitchell, said Tuesday there are months of construction yet to go.
Crews are tearing out the road's raised median and pouring concrete so that it is level with the existing road. After that, the entire road gets a layer of asphalt.
"I don't look for them to finish it this year," Mr. Kearnes said Tuesday. "They should finish it next year. We're pretty much on schedule."
That is not very good news to Holton Garrison, who makes his living in the middle of the orange barrels.
He has been selling concrete lawn ornaments at Country Goose on the east side of U.S. 27 about a half-mile north of the AA Highway interchange for 15 years, and he said 1998 could be one of his worst years because of the construction.
"They're cutting down my business," Mr. Garrison said. "It's cut down my business 50 percent. People can't get out; they can't get in."
But at the Spare-Time Grill near the corner of U.S. 27 and Poplar Ridge Road in Alexandria, server Martha Walton said things have mostly stayed the same.
"Not a major drop-off," Ms. Walton said. "We pretty much have the same people, everyday loyal customers."
Bud Gilbert, who opened Advanced Automotive Services next door one month ago today, sees potential customers in the barely moving cars. "The slower they go, they'll see you," Mr. Gilbert said.
But Mr. Gilbert has one problem with the construction -- barrel placement that blocks his shop. "That makes me mad," he said. "I've had to move the barrels three or four times out of my driveway." A little farther north of Mr. Garrison's ornaments, Bev Spoonamore runs the Buckskin Bev's restaurant.
She said her business is about 75 percent of what it was when work ended in December on a 1.8-mile stretch between Cold Spring and Highland Heights. But she is optimistic that some changes she's making next year -- among them, offering deli-style box lunches and starting an upscale gift shop -- will lure customers who used to come from both Ohio and Kentucky.
"It was difficult to stay open," Ms. Spoonamore said. "We had to borrow a lot of money.
"We're even stronger than we were before."
Another project calls for rebuilding a section from near the entrance of the Kahn's plant in Claryville to Grants Lick.
Mr. Kearnes said work there won't start until 2000. The highway will eventually be rebuilt to near the Pendleton County line.
Ms. Spoonamore, who lives in Claryville and has to drive past construction, said she'll be ready for major celebration when the work is finally done.
"It'll be a major relief," she said. "If champagne didn't give me such a headache, I'd probably pop open a bottle."
