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Businesses riding out last stages of Jefferson roadwork

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Sam Veltri owns Veltri Cleaners, a Washington staple near the nexus of Jefferson and Wylie avenues.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Lorna Bohnak, Hog Father’s manager, prepares food Thursday afternoon.

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Lorna Bohnak, Hog Father's manager, cooks meats for a sandwich Thursday afternoon.

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A construction sign sits on Jefferson Avenue in Washington in this 2021 file photo.

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A member of a road crew directs traffic on Jefferson Avenue in Washington.

For 69 years, Veltri Cleaners has been a Washington staple near the nexus of Jefferson and Wylie avenues. It is one of the busiest intersections in the city, where the flow of local commuters is supplemented by those entering and exiting Interstate 70.

“It’s always been such a main artery,” said Sam Veltri, owner of the shop. “Fracking came to the area and brought impact fees. If any road deserves impact fees, it’s Jefferson.”

And as if traffic along Jefferson weren’t formidable under normal circumstances, consider what abnormal circumstances have wrought. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation began a roadway project between Tyler Avenue and Wylie in the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 arrived in the region. The outbreak prompted Gov. Tom Wolf to shut down construction statewide for a couple of months, delaying work on this six tenths of a mile stretch.

This project is heading toward home, with no more “traffic restrictions on the roadway,” according to PennDOT spokesman Jay Ofsanik.

Yet work is ongoing in a business district that teems with activity. Owners and operators have been coping with the challenges.

“Construction has affected our business about 20%,” said Alexis Cox, manager of Dog House Diner, which is open from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day. “A lot of people don’t want to sit and wait in traffic.”

They don’t necessarily want to rush through a meal either. Cox said traffic delays have limited the time that many diners have to eat, whether they are heading to work or on a fixed-time lunch break. This could dissuade customers from stopping.

Cox said Dog House gets a break on weekends, though, when road work shuts down. Breakfast and lunch business are brisk on those days.

“A lot people who stop have expressed that (the work) has been a pain for them,” she said. “I think this has pretty much affected anyone who has to use Jefferson.”

Slightly to the west, Tressia Snyder, assistant general manager at Hog Father’s, said “our business has been pretty good. I’m not trying to sound cocky, but people are still coming in. My dining room is full every night.

“Our employees are having a harder time to get into work, though,” she said. “Slowdowns are a problem and the main drag leads to (Interstate) 70 East.”

Although 6-Pack Charlie’s is near Tyler Avenue, it is east of the project and, apparently, less impacted.

“We haven’t seen much of a change in our traffic,” said Jay Amin, manager of the store, who added he has “no idea” whether the work has affected business.

Veltri, whose father Pietro started the dry cleaning operation in 1948, said the roadwork has affected his customers, but not in a profound way.

“I’ve noticed that some people are coming here less often, but bringing more pieces,” he said. “Instead of a half-dozen, they’re now bringing in a dozen. I’ve also found that people are coming here from different directions, taking different streets.

“There’s no sense in crying about it – and I’m not.”

He certainly isn’t. Veltri, a lifelong resident, embraces this improvement.

“The work has to be done somewhere along the line,” he said. “When it’s done, it will be nice. Everybody is dealing with it.”

Ofsanik said this project “is pretty much coming to an end,” which is forecast by the end of the construction season this fall. Much of the remaining work, he added, centers on construction cleanup and seeding.

“This has gone fairly well,” Ofsanik said. “There have been signal upgrades, upgrades of intersections, ramp work near where I-70 gets off.

“It’s a very busy area,” he added. “This is a good project to improve traffic flow.”

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