GENEVA, Ohio — U.S. Route 20 in Geneva is now open to two-way traffic after 613 days of construction work.
No one appreciates it more than Formality Bridal owner Penny Bowers-Schebal. In December, she told News 5 that the long construction project was affecting her once successful business.
"It's been really difficult to forecast or plan a business that was in a double-digit increase year after year until this project started," she said. "How do I know that it is not us? Because we have another store that is doing extremely well."
Bowers-Schebal said she is seeing a difference now with the road open. When News 5 visited her, the shop's Sunday was booked with appointments, and the shop's improved business meant she was considering hiring more employees at the Geneva location.
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Formality Bridal will have to endure more construction. In an email, Geneva's city manager said road and gutter replacement will need to be completed this spring.
The city said businesses will be notified, and a detour will also be posted. The finishing touches on the project should take about 60 days.
It's the hope that those changes will prevent what happened before — brides walking across active construction zones to reach the store and getting lost because of a lack of detour signs.
Bowers-Schebal is far from the first business owner News 5 has spoken with who has construction issues. Hunt reached out to Debbie Hoffman, a visiting assistant professor of law at Cleveland State University, to see if there is any help for businesses like Formality Bridal. Hoffman said it all boils down to one thing.
"The key question is really going to be about access," she said. "It can't be that it is merely an inconvenience."
Hoffman said everything would have to be documented. Cities would need to do their due diligence by clearly communicating with businesses about closures and providing a clear detour.
"It makes me think what my next step should clearly be," Bowers-Schebal said.
Right now, Bowers-Schebal said she's focused on making sure her business continues to show strength despite the looming return of construction.
"It shows we have a really strong, resilient business that endured something it probably didn't need to endure," she said.
