Manhattan businesses concerned about construction

MANHATTAN, Kan. (KSNT) – One Manhattan business is looking for an answer as the Kansas Department of Transportation and the City of Manhattan try and fix a road.

Customers are finding it difficult to try to get to the Hop-N-Skip gas station and the McMillins Liquor Store as two of three entrances are currently closed due to construction at the intersection of Kimball Avenue and U.S. Highway 24 in Manhattan.

Construction crews are working to make a turning lane for drivers on Kimball Avenue.

Liquor Store Owner Mark McMillin said initially he was fine with the project.

“We had a meeting on Monday saying they would do one entrance first, and then close the other entrance once construction was done, but they’ve decided to close both,” McMillin said.

With two entrances closed, it’s a lot more difficult to get to the store.

And after just one day, he said they’ve already felt the effects of the construction right outside of their business.

“We lost yesterday about half of our sales and that’s day one,” McMillin said.

The majority of the project is being funded by KDOT. The City of Manhattan said it’s only a middle man in this situation and they want the construction project to work for both sides.

“The hope, weather permitting is to have that driveway open within the next couple weeks probably the middle of December,” Ken Hays, Project Coordinator for the City of Manhattan said. “The intent there is definitely not to have that closed until march.”

McMillin said construction similar to this happened in the 2000s and his business was able to get through that. And now they’re left hoping they can make it through another set of construction.

KSNT News reached out to KDOT, but no one was available for comment.

Construction on the entire project is set to be finished in March.