SWANTON, Ohio — Back in June, the village of Swanton said a sewer repair project at Airport Highway and South Main Street would only last a couple of weeks.
But last week, the village said on social media that waterline issues had hindered progress, delaying the project until the middle of October.
The construction affects residents' routes home and makes access to local businesses more difficult.
"We're still here and we still want to take care of you, feed you, make sure you leave happy and with full bellies," said Ashley Graves, cook and server at DeEtte's Dream Diner.
The popular local joint is just north of the road work, and Graves said its impact has been felt.
"We haven't been able to get a lot more customers, like usual. They've closed the roads, they tell customers they can't come down here. It's just been awful," Graves said. "Customers had to tell them there's a diner down there and they said, 'Oh, we didn't know.'"
It also has an impact on how much money Graves can make as a server.
"If I'm out on the floor serving and we don't have customers, that's going to be a big difference in my paycheck," she said.
Marco's Pizza, next to the intersection and road work, is also facing difficulties.
"Construction's really affected us, especially with our delivery drivers trying to navigate around it," said Ryan Romig, Marco's general manager. "I know a lot of our customers too have been having a lot of problems actually getting to us as well."
Romig says that while the road work has led to delays in deliveries, it luckily hasn't had a significant effect on the business.
"We are definitely trying to still be as timely as we possibly can," Romig said. "Our priority is to our customers and we are doing everything in our power to work around what the circumstances have dealt to us."
The village of Swanton did not respond to a request for comment.