First Avenue construction hard on barristas

“Our barristas are sad,” said Julie Lammers, owner of the Coffeesmith's drive-through coffee shop at 690 Marion Blvd.

A construction zone at the site of intersection widening project at Collins Road/Highway 100 and First Avenue has reduced business at the cute little drive-through coffee shop, cutting into tips for barristas.

“In general, people are just avoiding the area completely,” Lammers said, adding that business has been down at least 10 percent this summer.

The company has taken a whimsical approach to the problem.

A  faux detour  sign advertising daily construction specials was erected in late June in hopes that more of the motorists caught in the snarl would stop.

The specials like $1 coffee on Mondays and half-off limeades on other days may be helping a little, but in general, it seems, motorists just want to push through the blockade and get to their destination on time.

Lammers said her first worry when  she heard about plans for the intersection project was that Coffeesmiths' exit would be blocked. She was relieved to find out it would not be blocked, but didn't know until construction actually started how much overall traffic would simply drop.

On the positive side, Lammers said, some customers have rerouted their trips to stop by her company's other location, the Coffeesmith  Cafe at 7037 C Ave. NE.

The business and its employees realize the intersection project is needed, Lammers added, and are just looking forward to winter when the project will be over and traffic returns to normal.