LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Construction is something many drivers dread. However, it's often worth the pain when road projects are completed.
That's the case for many people traveling on the newly-completed Cantrell Road in West Little Rock.
"When the road construction started, a lot of people that don't live in the area just didn't come out this way," Grind Coffee Bistro owner Heaven McKinney said.
McKinney noticed this at her coffee shop in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center during the Highway 10 widening project.
"I would say probably about a 25 to 30% decrease," McKinney said.
She thinks the construction had to do with fewer customers coming in.
"When you're adding 10 to 15 minutes on your lunchtime because of our construction, we lost much of that," McKinney said. "I think that's where we're mainly affected by that lunch crowd that usually comes in."
McKinney then tried new ways to bring in more people.
"Social media is critical," McKinney said. "We just started targeting more in a five-mile radius past the construction on this side. We're where we can start meeting more clients in our community."
The project took three months, but ARDOT spokesperson Dave Parker said they finished earlier than expected.
"It's nice when a project is ahead of schedule... by a few months," Parker said. "Always great for the business owners, the traveling public, everything."
Parker explained the improvements were needed because it's a busy road.
"It's the state's most heavily traveled non-interstate road," Parker said.
Data, as of 2020, shows about 59,000 cars a day travel on the section of Cantrell near Pleasant Ridge.
Now, Parking is hoping traffic will move much smoother.
"It's making things so much better," Parker said.
McKinney is also hoping more customers will come in now.
"A lot of people that didn't have the time or wanting to avoid the mess can come back out and visit," McKinney said.