Kolb/Golf Links construction challenges for businesses & drivers | Business

(KOLD) - More than just traffic headaches on the southeast side.

It's business headaches too because of construction at a major intersection, Kolb and Golf Links.

The $2.3 million construction project to improve the Kolb/Golf Links intersection is expected to last about six months.

Drivers and businesses there should like the end result, but in the meantime, it can be tough on both of them.

Our tax money is behind programs designed to help businesses get through it.

Anyone who has driven through the Kolb/Golf Links intersection knows it can be very congested.

"Historically, this intersection has backed up anywhere from a half mile to almost a mile during peak hours," says Fred Felix, of the Tucson Department of Transportation, and construction project manager.　

"We're going to widen this so we provide two left turn lanes in all directions, as well as provide bus pullouts and there will be right turn lanes. Bike lanes," he says.

Construction usually affects nearby businesses, and this project is no exception.

There is business access, but it can be difficult for some.

Stacey Skarison is a waitress at Joe's Pancake House, in a shopping center on the corner of Kolb and Golf Links.

"Yesterday, I had a customer. The man was here, and his wife was on the phone and it took him and I ten minutes to guide her in," she says.

One of the biggest headaches isn't the construction, it's the people who are trying to take shortcuts around the construction zone.

Signs restricting traffic help in the neighborhoods.

"We've had to go down as far as a half mile in every direction because a number of cars will cut through and they will travel through these neighborhoods at high speeds," Felix says.

The parking lots are tougher to control.

"And they go 50 and 60 miles an hour through this shopping center and we have a lot of elderly people and I'm even afraid to step off the sidewalk," Skarison says.

This is a Regional Transportation Authority, or RTA, project, paid for with a half-cent sales tax voters approved in 2006.

The RTA is working with about 85 businesses to make the days more tolerable at and near the intersection.

Some of the business owners are taking advantage of the RTA's free business consulting services.

The RTA offers several services.  

"From marketing-related. It could be operations-related. It could be strategic-related. It could be they're looking to sell their business. They're looking to grow into new areas," says Britton Dornquast, RTA MainStreet Business Assistance Program Manager.

Mary Abi-Ad owns Joe's Pancake House, and has dealt with RTA representatives.

"Oh, it's great. I have not had a problem with getting ahold of them or them answering questions or getting a problem fixed for us," she says.　

Of course, some people will brave the traffic to get where they want to go, no matter what.

"It has affected, to a certain extent, the ability to get here, but not enough to make me not come," says Joe's Pancake House customer John Jacobsen.

Businesses at the intersection hope a lot more people feel that way.

Stacey Skarison has a message for everyone.

"We're open from 6 to 2. We'd love to see you, and try to find us and come on in."

Construction started in April.

We should see a whole new intersection, totally finished sometime in early October.

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