Merchants get word out on temporary road closing

BY GLORIA STRAVELLI
Staff Writer

CHRISKELLY staff Above, construction work on the bridge over Fourth Creek, Fair Haven, that cuts across River Road forces local traffic to detour away from local businesses. At left, Gem of an Idea, a Fair Haven business, makes the best of the situation. FAIR HAVEN — Hard hats, cones and bright yellow barrier tape are unusual counterpoints to the gems and fine jewelry displayed in the windows of Gem of an Idea in Fair Haven these days.

The jewelry store’s off-beat window display is owner Maureen Bay’s attempt to make the best of the construction detours that divert traffic around the River Road business district while a culvert and bridge over Fourth Creek are reconstructed by the county.

“We’ve started a construction sale. The front window is decorated like a construction site with yellow tape, hard hats, cones,” Bay said last week. “It really does look fun, and we have hard hats all over the store. When kids come in, we give them a hard hat. Plus, everything is marked down and on sale.”

The road construction, which began last week, prompted Fair Haven Mayor Joseph J. Szostak to send out letters to the media “to remind all that, despite the fact the River Road is closed to through traffic, our shops, eateries, offices and businesses are open and will be still be accessible as always.”

Scheduled to begin in January, the road project was delayed by the JCP&L strike. The county projects the construction will take three months to complete.

Now that barricades have gone up, traffic heading west on River Road can still access businesses located between Hance Road and Battin Road as local traffic. Traveling east from the direction of Rumson, shops on River Road remain accessible.

The traffic detour comes into play on River Road, which is closed to through traffic at Fourth Creek at the entrance to Fair Haven Commons, where Gem of an Idea is located. River Road through traffic in Fair Haven must follow the detour south on Hance Road (right at the light on River to Ridge Road), east (left) on Ridge to Fair Haven Road, then north (left again) on Fair Haven Road to where it joins River Road.

Retailers affected by the detour said last week they have adopted strategies to let customers know they are still open and accessible. A few said the temporary inconvenience may actually prove a boon to their businesses.

“I’ve actually done a lot, I think — about all I can think of [to let people know the shop is open],” said Bay, who includes information about the detour in all her advertising. She will also direct-mail a flyer with a detailed map to 4,000 customers on her mailing list.

The construction sale, she said, is two-pronged, designed to coincide with the road closing and renovation going on in the building her business occupies.

“When you walk into my store, half of the ceiling is missing because of the construction above me,” said Bay, who has been in business for 24 years.

“We’ve tried to make it fun by doing the sale. We hope we’ve made it worthwhile for people to do the detour.”

To help traffic move around the detour, parking spaces curbside on a portion of River Road have been blocked off, and that is proving an inconvenience to some businesses.

“They changed the parking to accommodate the road closing,” explained Jill Brunski, co-owner of Fair Haven Books on River Road. “They extended the no parking area much further east.

“I think people are confused,” she said. “It’s new, and we are going to do a direct mailing to our customers and tell them we’re open even though the road is closed, and we have signs in windows.”

Next door at Gourmet Picnic, a gourmet takeout and catering shop, the detour has disrupted the morning rush, according to owner Suzette O’Brien.

“Unfortunately, we do about 50 percent of our business in the morning rush when people come in for coffee and breakfast. It’s not on the way for people anymore. Rather than take the detour, they take a more convenient way. If you’re coming from Atlantic Highlands going to Red Bank, would you still go down River Road? You’d go down Bingham. Why would you put up with the traffic?”

For now, chef O’Brien said she’s cut down on the amount of foods she is making but she can’t compensate for the loss of drive-by traffic that would bring the year-and-a-half-old business to the attention of customers.

“We’re still getting new customers, so we want them to drive by and see us,” she noted. If the [sidewalk] tables were out, it would be worse.”

After 52 years at the corner of River and Fair Haven roads, Harvey Shooman doesn’t see the new traffic pattern as affecting Fair Haven Hardware.

“It’s going to be a problem until people get used to it; once they’re used to it, I don’t foresee much of a problem,” he said. “Eighty-five percent of my traffic comes through the back door anyway. My impression is that I will be impacted minimally. There’s no need for any extra measures.”

While at Men’s Hair by Women on Fair Haven Road near the intersection with River Road, the detour is actually increasing traffic past the salon.

“I haven’t decided yet whether it’s going to be good or bad for us because we have so much more traffic now because of the detour,” said owner Betsy O’Neill.

“We’re getting a little more exposure. Possibly for us, it might be to our benefit. Even the bus line is driving right by our store, and our shop happens to be the bus stop now.

I’m even thinking of hanging balloons,” O’Neill said. “After 23 years at this location, we still have people that say, ‘I never knew you were here.’ ”

On the other end of the detour, The Doc Shoppe in the Acme Plaza is still accessible to local traffic, and owner Dean Ross thinks the traffic diversion may actually work to the advantage of local merchants.

I hope it keeps people in town,” he said. “I see it as people staying in town to shop. I’m more of a ‘the glass is half full’ person. If you talk to retailers, they complain about being too busy, too slow. It’s out of our hands; it has to be done and we just have to bear it, and the road will open up. I’m not seeing an impact. That’s my take on it.”

Ross is focused on the long-term view.

“My concern is we have to address the road structure. A lot of the roads in the county were designed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The roads cannot handle the traffic. I know people don’t want the trains but we have to address the future.”

At neighboring Bike Haven, owner Cliff Wittenberg is feeling little effect because his bike shop is still accessible to local traffic.

“We already put together a notice to hand to customers when they come in letting them know that the road would be closed and we were still open,” he said. “The closing isn’t as bad as they made it seem. They closed the road off at Hance, but the barrier is only partial. Local traffic can get through. I don’t think it’s as big a deal as everybody thinks. It may be inconvenient for people coming from Locust and Navesink, but anybody that lives in the area knows the back roads. I think we’re going to be OK.”

Although customers must detour and thread their way to her jewelry store through parking lots off Fair Haven Road, Bay concurs.

“It’s a little zigging, but not horrendous,” she observed, adding that locals seem to be more put out than out-of-towners.

“We’ve actually found that people are grumbling a little but oddly enough, the people that live here seem to be grumbling more than the people from out of town. We pat them on the back and say, we know it’s an inconvenience, but they will fix the problem and it will be open before they know it.”