SYLVANIA, Ohio — If you've driven through the city of Sylvania over the past few weeks, you probably had to take a detour or two. Numerous construction projects are underway, including one that has shut down parts of Monroe Street and forced drivers to reroute through the city's downtown.
A section of Monroe Street was closed at the end of March to widen the street and right now, the road is down to one lane.
Officials said the projects on Monroe Street and around the Silica Bridge near Sylvania's Northview High School will last for approximately four months until July.
WTOL 11 stopped by businesses on Main Street to see how things are going along one of the detours. Some of the business owners said the construction has been inconvenient, but others said the extra street traffic has actually increased foot traffic.
Businesses like Chandler Cafe and its owner Gail Stansley have seen the construction from the start, but lately, it's gotten worse.
However, Stansley said the construction and new developments have brought in some new customers.
"Maybe we have some new people that didn't know we were here which is great," Stansley said. "Also we have the new apartments over here, so we're getting a lot of new faces."
Tabitha Sharrar, who's soon to be the general manager at Grumpy's, said she's seen the extra business too across the street.
"[We've] kind of noticed a big uptick actually," Sharrar said. "Lots of new people, with everybody re-routing, people are coming in saying 'we didn't even know you were here.'"
Sharrar said they were expecting the opposite for their business in the beginning, but she said the increase in traffic created a better kind of problem.
"We were kind of running out things a little bit in the beginning, but things have really balanced out," Sharrar said. "We're not really running out of anything anymore."
Because of the construction, Monroe Street will be closed completely in both directions between Main Street and Richard Becker Place from 9 p.m. to midnight on Wednesday, April 26.