However, Ron Porter, executive director of the Butler County Transportation Improvement District, said his office has not received any complaints from businesses regarding changes with the bypass and the effects on local commerce.
“The only thing I can associate to a loss of business would be a loss of traffic volume in the area and I don’t believe that’s happened,” he said.
Area businesses impacted by the redesign don’t have specific traffic numbers, but say proof of the new design’s negative impact is evident in their bottom lines.
Premier Wine & Beer, which opened last March at 3469 Tylersville Road, has seen a 50 percent drop in business since the new bypass design became fully operational late last year, according to Dereje Kiffle of Fairfield Twp.
“Some of my customers actually came in and said ‘you’re not convenient anymore, so we’re going to UDF.’” Kiffle said. “I put my heart and soul and money into this business and I may not even make it.”
Other customers who continue to come in for wine or craft beer are not coming in as frequently as before, he said.
Buster’s Bar & Grill opened at 3463 Tylersville in Hamilton in January 2011. But owner Fred Ellison said he plans to sell the business because profits have dropped by at least 50 percent thanks to the new traffic pattern.
“(Customers) say that the bypass is really screwed up and they don’t want to deal with the area,” he said.
David Garrity of Fairfield Twp. said he is among many local motorists who avoid the bypass whenever possible, even if its means traveling a further distance to get to his destination.
“You’re constantly moving time-wise” on other roads, he said. “I haven’t been on Tylersville since they built” the superstreet.
Sara Hedgeteth, a Hamilton native temporarily living in Fairfield, said she also avoids the bypass whenever possible. She said she will no longer shop at Walmart in Fairfield Twp. because it requires taking Symmes Road to the bypass, where she must grapple with the redesigned traffic pattern.
“I like the way that they’ve added lanes to it, but it doesn’t make sense to me to have to turn right to turn left or to cross the bypass,” she said.
However, other residents don’t see the problem, many of them commenting how much they like the steady north-south flow on the bypass and that any east-west issues - such as added time or decreased safety - are a matter of perception, not reality.
At Daylight Donuts, which opened at 3485 Tylersville in Hamilton in December 2009, business each month continues to exceed each prior year, according to owner Elvis Nail. However, many customers remain disgruntled about the new traffic pattern.
“People still come in and complain about the bypass, but they still seem to be coming in,” Nail said.
That’s not the case at Jamie’s Hair Salon, which has been at 3501 Tylersville Road in Fairfield for more than 18 years. Business is down by 40 percent since the bypass work began and the changes have been completed, according to owner Jamie Powell.
“I was in denial at first but ... it’s had a major impact on my business,” Powell said. “We noticed, especially a lot of our older clients, didn’t even want to come down the bypass or go near it.
“Now, they’re starting to trickle back in, once they get used to it. But as far as overall business and new business, it’s been hard to get it since the bypass has changed.”
Retail and service-related businesses aren’t the only ones grappling with the infrastructure-related downturn.
Local trucking companies have managed to get their own drivers accustomed to the changes. But they said they are still dealing with frustrated truckers from out of town who enter the area via Union Centre Boulevard and get lost once they turn north and overshoot the U-turn.
Mike Flanigan, a dispatcher with Consolidated Logistics in Fairfield, said that in his more than five decades on the job he has never seen the level of confusion caused by the bypass changes.
Flanigan also said he was concerned about truckers “driving sideways” as a result of the new design. “When you’re making a U-turn with a tractor trailer, you’ve got a chance of turning it over,” he said.
Porter said any traffic study would need to be authorized by the TID, the Ohio Department of Transportation and area municipalities, a process that would need to be initiated by business owners directing written messages to the TID or ODOT.
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