LEWISTON – Businesses along Bleachery Hill are taking the closure of Lisbon Street in stride, trying to ride out the repairs of a giant sinkhole that have closed traffic to their doors since Monday night.
“Yes, this is Lewiston’s Big Dig,” quipped Jim Grimmel, owner of Grimmel’s gas station and repair shop, making reference to Boston’s notorious public works project. Although the business remains open, it’s hard for some customers to negotiate the construction area.
“We’re seeing a loss in gas revenues, but we’re blessed in a way since we’ve been here for 62 years and have dedicated customers,” said Grimmel.
His neighbor, Diane Dube of Sherm Arnold’s Flooring, has been watching repair crews as they excavate the old road in preparation to build an entirely new section.
“People can’t get in here, so it’s really been a lot of fun,” said Dube, tongue-in-cheek. “Especially when you work on commission. Oh well, those things happen.”
Dube, who manages the flooring store, said a supplier wasn’t going to deliver any more carpeting until next week when he can safely back a delivery truck to the store. He usually makes a delivery every day.
“He said it was suicidal to try and navigate it,” she said. “I don’t blame him.”
The store has also sent home some staff since there’s been so little business with the road closed. Dube said customers can still reach the store by parking on the other side of Pepperell Mill and walking over the sidewalk.
The four lanes of Lisbon Street from Androscoggin Avenue to Adams Avenue have been closed for repairs since Monday night when a small pothole gave way to a huge sinkhole.
Mike Bates, deputy director of public works, said the cause of the cave-in is determined by an engineer. He said the hole is about 25 feet deep and predicted the repairs would take until Friday, perhaps into Saturday.
“We’ve been losing time because of the rain,” he said, noting crews are working well into the night. They are at the point of building up the road base and working on catch basins.
Ron Cloutier, a driver for Papa John’s pizza, knows all about losing time. He said construction projects all over the city have added about 15 minutes to his delivery time, especially if the pizza is going to Auburn.
“There’s just no convenient way to get there now,” he said, noting the Lisbon Street project, plus smaller scale detours on Bartlett Street and East Avenue slow the approaches to bridges connecting the Twin Cities. “It’s pushing my deliveries back 45 minutes to an hour.”
Cloutier said it typically takes 25 minutes to a half an hour from the time a Papa John worker hangs up the phone to the time the pizza is delivered to a customer’s house. The construction projects are adding 15 minutes or more to that average.
“I should know; I spent my day in that yesterday,” he said.
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