Some Tumalo businesses feeling negative impacts from Hwy. 20 construction, while others are busier than ever

(Update: Adding video, comments from Tumalo businesses, ODOT)

TUMALO, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A Tumalo restaurant reached out to NewsChannel 21 this week to express their concerns over how much ODOT's current Tumalo roundabout project is negatively affecting their business.

Traffic blocking driveways, back-ups of the highway, and long wait times at busy parts of the day are just a few of the things businesses say have been plaguing sales as of late.

Rob Anderson, owner of Beyond the Ranch Antiques in Tumalo, told us Wednesday, "There's a lot of roundabout work that's got to be completed in order to be finished,, but it's affecting the business quite a bit."

The roundabout project on Highway 20 has cut off direct access to the store. Drivers now have to take a series of right turns to get there.

"We're down by 50 percent in our sales here in the store" Anderson said. "It's helpful to keep the community of Tumalo open and for customers to keep finding us, because we need your business and support, and we do appreciate it."

The roundabout is being added by ODOT to address safety concerns where Highway 20 meets Cook Avenue.

Kacey Davey, ODOT's Central Oregon regional public information officer, explained the project's current status.

"So currently, we have Cook Avenue, which is the road that goes north from Highway 20 through Tumalo -- the highway access right there is currently closed, as we're working on that side of the roundabout," she said.

The project means drivers coming from the direction of Bend have to take a detour to get to "The Bite," Tumalo's popular food cart area.

A bartender at The Bite, Megan Susnjara, says she hasn't noticed a change in how busy the food cart lot gets.

"Probably once a day I hear about it, people didn't know how to get here," she said. "They change the entries pretty often and the exits pretty often, so it's confusing, but people manage to find their way here, still."

Other Tumalo-area businesses along the path of the detour route say they're actually benefiting from the extra traffic in the area.

Two Tumalo Country Store employees, Jessika and Rachel, told NewsChannel 21: "We're still busy, we're still getting plenty of customers, we're busy at lunchtime. And of course, we're getting all the construction workers here for lunch, but I mean, the roads are congested. I just feel like when it's backed up, they're ready to go, they don't want to stop."

ODOT says the roundabout project will be finished at the end of fall. Until then, they're looking to soften the blow construction might have on businesses.

One restaurant owner tells us she called ODOT with concerns, and workers came to put up extra directional cones at the business.

"If anyone has concerns, or there's impact to a business, we definitely want to work with those people and minimize those impacts," Davey told us.

Tumalo Feed Co. co-owner Lyndsey Budavari told us drivers are incorrectly treating a new intersection in front of the restaurant as a four-way stop, and ODOT removed one of their two driveways, causing backups that block their only parking lot entrance and exit.

As part of the planning for the $20 million roundabout project, ODOT says it worked with several businesses in Tumalo, preparing for the impacts.