In a Bad Fix on Bristol Street : Construction Mess Has Businesses Stuck on the Road to Ruin

Amid the maze of concrete overpasses, connector roads and black belts of highway that make up the congestion-plagued “Orange Crush” freeway interchange, John Basharyar’s Arco mini-market stands as quiet as a mausoleum.

The same can be said for half a dozen shops down the street, where business is down as much as 75%. At a nearby apartment complex, so many people have moved out over the past year that the manager was forced to slash rents.

This once-bustling northern Santa Ana neighborhood is perhaps the closest thing Orange County has to a ghost town. Because of freeway construction, the area has been transformed into a dusty district of confusing detours, patron-starved businesses and angry residents.

The ambitious construction project has closed a portion of Bristol Street for more than a year, choking the neighborhood’s economic lifeline and forcing commuters through a labyrinth of detours. And, with work to widen the Garden Grove Freeway set to continue for at least another seven months, some locals wonder how much more they can take.

“I’m just hanging on here,” said Adolfo Nanci, owner of Adolfo’s Liquor and Mini Mart.

Roaming the streets of this working-class neighborhood of sprawling apartment complexes and well-maintained older homes, it doesn’t take long to realize that something is amiss.

On a recent morning during rush hour, Bristol Street was nearly deserted. So few cars make it up the street that officials have modified the traffic signal where Bristol meets the freeway so that red lights flash around the clock.

Most residents and merchants knew the construction was coming. But few imagined how quickly and starkly it would alter their neighborhood.

Before the traffic barriers and construction vehicles blocked Bristol, the Arco station that Basharyar manages bustled with customers.

“When the roads were open, this was an important area,” he said. “When people are traveling to L.A. or Riverside, they’d see the sign from the freeway and stop off here for gas. We used to be busy all the time.”

Not any more. Basharyar estimates that business is off as much as 75% from a year ago before construction started--down from as many as 500 customers a day to as few as 150 these days. Overall, he said, the losses total $10,000 a day. He has had to let three of his six cashiers go and has reduced operating hours from 24 to 18 per day.

With the closure of the Bristol Street on-ramp to the Garden Grove Freeway, commuters simply have no reason to travel in the area, Basharyar said. Eastbound freeway commuters can still exit at Bristol and enter Basharyar’s gas station. However, with the on-ramp closed, re-entering the eastbound lanes of the freeway from another ramp can take 10 to 15 minutes. And most commuters apparently do not want the hassle, he said.

Now, most of Basharyar’s patrons are locals, who spend less money and buy fewer snacks than freeway commuters.

“Today, people buy $2 worth of gas. Before, people would buy $10 or $20 worth,” he said. “Some of (our customers) find us because they are lost.”

But even for merchants less reliant on freeway commuters, the array of closed roads, detours and confusion has taken a heavy toll on their bottom line.

Nanci, the mini-mart owner, said his business is down 40% since construction began, forcing him put $37,000 of his own money into the store.

“Traffic is nonexistent,” he said. “People recognize that there is no freeway on-ramp here” and decide not to drive into the area. “You can’t operate a business that way.”

Nanci said he would sell the store he’s built up over 12 years if he could. But because the value of liquor stores is determined by their sales volume, this latest slump means he can only get a fraction of what the establishment is actually worth, he said.

Several businesses in the area have closed or moved over the last year. The recession played a role, but several remaining business owners insist that the road construction was the primary factor in forcing those establishments out.

For the merchants still around, at least they can put the problems of life on Bristol Street behind them when they go home at night. For Rosa Garcia, the community is home. And in her view, when the construction began, so went the neighborhood.

Garcia, who lives in an apartment off Bristol, has been awakened at night by state Department of Transportation construction work and watched as countless commuters drove up Bristol only to make the inevitable U-turn when they realized the street and on-ramp are closed.

“It’s very confusing for people,” Garcia said. This used to be a nice street. Now, it has all these signs . . . and (concrete sound) walls around here. “I’ll be glad . . . when (the street) is back to normal.”

Other residents agree.

When construction got underway last year, Eva Anderson thought a quieter Bristol Street would be a nice change. Then, the construction began.

“It was terrible. It was like ‘Boom, boom, boom!’ I just wanted to scream,” said Anderson, who noted that the noise problem has dissipated in recent weeks.

But even with less racket, the construction remains a big headache for commuters. About a dozen residents at one large apartment complex have moved out now that the freeway on-ramp is closed, according to a disgruntled apartment manager.

“It’s just no longer convenient,” said the apartment manager, who asked not to be identified. “They came here to begin with for the easy freeway access.”

Renting those vacant apartments has been no easy task. “They just take one look at the situation” and decide to rent elsewhere, the manager said.

At least two merchants said they plan to ask state and city officials to compensate them for the lost business. Nanci has even instructed his lawyer to look into ways of getting some relief.

But both Caltrans and Santa Ana city officials said they can offer little more than sympathy.

“The city just doesn’t have the resources to compensate (businesses) for down time,” said Cindy Nelson, executive director of Santa Ana’s Community Development Department. “We do sympathize with their troubles.”

Caltrans doesn’t offer compensation either. But spokeswoman Maureena Duran-Rojas said the agency can help merchants file claims with the state Board of Controls, which does occasionally grant compensation in such cases. Duran-Rojas acknowledged that construction work could be inconvenient for some, but she said those with complaints can call Caltrans at (714) 768-4425.

But such a hot line is of little use to merchants like Nanci. “I’m just trying to stay afloat at this point,” he said.

Construction Chaos Construction along the Garden Grove Freeway has transformed a portion of Bristol Street in Santa Ana from a bustling main drag into a nearly deserted byway. Here’s a look at the traffic situation in the area: 1. Bristol Street: Closed at the Garden Grove Freeway. Traffic between Memory Lane and the freeway has lightened considerably since freeway construction began a year ago. The street is scheduled to remain closed until the summer of 1993. 2. La Veta Avenue: Closed as it curves to become Bristol Street. Scheduled to be reopened in the summer of 1993. 3. Garden Grove Freeway: The Bristol Street exit from the eastbound freeway remains open. But the Bristol Street on-ramp is closed. The westbound Bristol/La Veta off-ramp from the freeway is also closed. Both ramps are scheduled to reopen in the fall of 1993. 4. Santa Clara Avenue: It remains open during construction. In an effort to prevent commuters from using the small street as a detour, signs have been posted restricting the road to local residents only. Source: State Department of Transportation