St. Charles Road Bridge reopens this week, coffee shop sees 80% drop in customers during roadwork

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A business owner claims ongoing construction on the St. Charles Road Bridge on Interstate 70 has caused customer traffic at a coffee shop to drop by 80%, prompting to ask the community for help on Facebook to keep their doors open.

As part of the Improve I-70 Project, the St. Charles Road Bridge has been under construction since mid-April.

Monday morning, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the St. Charles Road bridge to celebrate the near completion of the bridge.

The bridge is expected to open for cars on Friday, Aug. 15, and will open to pedestrians when construction on the sidewalk is complete.

A business, Just Love Coffee Cafe shared on its social media on July 31 that it began running into issues when construction started in April.

Billy Watkins, owner of Just Love Coffee Cafe, said that the decision to post on social media stemmed from barely being able to pay the bills.

"It just comes down to numbers, you know, barely being able to to pay the bills. My family here as a mom and pop shop. We don't have any more funds to put into this business. So at that point where our backs are against the wall because we can barely pay the employees," Watkins said.

The post claims that since construction started, there has been an 80% drop in customer traffic at their east side location during what should be one of their busiest seasons.

"Unfortunately, significant prolonged road construction and I-70 overpass/bridge closures have severely impacted access to our cafes, resulting in a dramatic 80% drop in customer traffic at our east side location during what should be one of our busiest seasons for I-70 travelers, summer. We're not asking for sympathy—we're asking for support," the post says.

A Columbia resident, Matt Frappier, created a GoFundMe for the coffee shop, saying that they were deeply worried about the business. The GoFundMe has received $950 in donations out of its $11k goal.