By By ERIN VER BERKMOES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The headache of business owners along North Fifth Street from Pucker Street to Main Street is over in one sense as the widening construction project has concluded, but the headache of trying to build their businesses back up is just beginning.
Since the road was opened to traffic both ways last week, Wheetley has seen the amount of traffic on the road increase, but this doesn't mean his business is picking up any.
Wheetley said that during the construction process he just coasted by, doing what he could to keep his business open.
Phil Hurlbutt owner of The Flower Cart, said now that the construction is over and the road opened things are looking up for his business.
Hurlbutt did have one down side to the construction being completed and that's the speed at which vehicles are now traveling down the street.
The Flower Cart has been struck by vehicles which failed to properly navigate the corner on four separate occasions and Hurlbutt said if his store is struck again because a vehicle is going to fast or happens to hit some ice in the winter months and can't make it around the corner, it may mean the end of his business.