DUNMORE -- Road construction near Dunmore corners has been slowing down traffic for more than a year now, but the end is in sight and business owners in that part of Lackawanna County say they are really starting to see the improvements.
"It's going to be a big improvement for Dunmore, no doubt about it," said Richard Sabato at Sack's Tailor Shop. "It's going to make the traffic flow a little easier."
Road work in Dunmore around Dunmore corners and on North and South Blakely Streets has been going on since 2015. PennDOT is putting in new sidewalks, new traffic signals, and turn lanes. The construction causes daily backups around the area.
"I understand it's progress and it takes time. Construction can only be done when the weather is good, so it's a work in progress, I guess you could say," said Andrew Fazio at Andy's Service Center.
PennDOT officials say the project should be wrapped up by early fall.
"I think they're moving pretty quick, quicker than I thought they were going to move," said Sabato.
Business owners in the area say they can already tell how good the end result will be and how worthwhile it was to wait for it.
"Already, it's terrific. The winters, the sidewalks were so beat up when you clean the snow off, it's just all broken concrete. It's nice now, I can see already it's going to be beautiful," said Fazio.
Even though paving is happening at night, there is other work going on in this zone that's affecting businesses during the day.
"I can't wait until they're done, but they're across the street now so they're not really blocking me in like they have been the past year," said Fazio.
Andrew Fazio owns Andy's Service Center on South Blakely Street. The entrance to his shop was blocked for months when construction was on the east side of the street. Now, workers have moved on to the west side of South Blakely.
"I couldn't get customers in here. It was bad, very bad. We had some very bad months. There was no business because people couldn't get in here. I had appointments made on the phone. People came and saw they couldn't get in here, and they would not come and they would just go somewhere else," Fazio explained.
Paving along the O'Neil Highway near Interstate 81 starts daily after 7 p.m.