LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The sounds driving through downtown Louisville this spring include more bird chirps, and less jackhammering.
In the last few weeks, many construction projects have wrapped up on the streets, making some downtown business owners extremely happy.
Back in January, WHAS11 spoke with some frustrated business owners at the corner of Fourth St. and Chestnut St. Many said the construction projects going on at all four corners of the intersection were halting business. One owner feared it wasn't even going to wrap up by derby time. But now, less than two weeks away from the big day, the intersection looks entirely different.
"Compared to today, it's a world of difference," David McGuire said. "I think we're in the safe zone for a while."
McGuire is a co-owner of Craft(s) Gallery & Mercantile said the construction looked more like a "war zone" the last few months.
"Oh, totally. I mean literally from October of 2018, every corner of our block was in disarray. Jackhammering, pouring concrete, jackhammering," he said. "You couldn't even park down here because the meters were all bagged and full of bulldozers and construction debris and that's all gone."
McGuire said during all of the construction, his store was losing business because he said pedestrians couldn't see or easily get to the store.
"I think we made it over the hump," he said. "It's been looking good for about a week and a half. Everything's kind of finished and all of the construction guys have gone home."
McGuire said ever since the construction has wrapped up, he's already noticed a big difference. He said he sees more pedestrians out walking and visiting stores now that the sidewalks are more accessible.
"The weather's changing and that's helping as well," McGuire said. "The hope for business is people keep coming in and shopping. That's the hope."
McGuire said he also hopes the city communicates better with downtown businesses about construction projects in the future. He said he had a number of failed attempts to get in touch with Metro Public Works and still never heard from anyone. Although, McGuire said he was able to communicate with Councilwoman Barbara Sexton Smith and the Downtown Louisville Partnership.
"I mean it's just essentially the small businesses who really rely on the pedestrian traffic and accessibility of parking," McGuire said. "Just communicate with us better. That's really all we're asking for."
McGuire said despite the earlier frustrations, he is happy and has nothing but good things to say now that the construction projects are cleared. He told WHAS11 originally that he feared the projects wouldn't even wrap up in time for Derby.
"You know, that's always the Louisville miracle. Everything's usually wrapped up by derby. So here we are, it's wrapped up," he said.
Only a few bright, orange construction cones remain at the intersection that used to be filled with equipment, debris, and gates.
Harold Adams, with Metro Public Works, said Monday the city tries to get as much construction done as it can before Derby. He said it then takes a slight break while the crowds are in town, before ramping back up afterward.
Adams said this past winter, part of the conduit between traffic signals underground, needed to be replaced. He said that is why so many intersections appeared to be ripped up or blocked off. But he said those were complete to make way for paving.
Adams said the city's paving season runs through November. He said while many downtown projects are wrapping up this summer, there will always still be some ongoing. Right now, Adams said there are still ongoing various utility projects and those performed by the phone companies.