Moville businesses impacted by Frontage Road project

MOVILLE, Iowa (KCAU) — Local businesses in Moville are experiencing the effects of the ongoing Frontage Road project.

The project is to expand the road to accommodate a new medical clinic, but the owner of Movillatte, Trissa Bottorff, said it's shrinking her business.

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"Last week, our sales were down 15 percent which is significant for Movillatte, being a coffee shop, especially being down the road from the school," Bottorff said. "So I think it's moreso my job is to just make sure people know that we are open and that, you know, it might look a little scary down here parking, parking might be a little different for a minute, but the drive-thru and the parking is still open."

Just down the street from Movillatte in the heart of the construction, Jeff's Bar owner Jenny Smit said they are also having the same problem.

"It's kind of a mess," Smit said. "It's not only affected our customers, but we get calls daily wanting to know if we're open, and we have to re-route them of how to get here. We have had a decrease in people since this all started just for the fact that they don't know how to get here."

According to the City of Moville, the project started in mid-October and was scheduled to be finished within two weeks. However, bad weather slowed progress down.

"There probably could be a few more things that could be done I think as far as helping out with that," Smit said. "I think we could probably work on some weekends, maybe, or you know, as far as the mud that came in."

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"I do feel like, safety-wise, it needs to be done," Bottorff said. "It's just taking a little bit longer then I think people anticipated, especially with the weather."

The City of Moville said they plan to get the first phase done in two weeks and will begin the final touches next spring.