Our Neighbors In Mandan Are Feeling The Memorial Highway Crunch

We couldn't help but breathe a slight sigh of relief when construction was pushed back

There was a target date of April 1st of this year when construction was to begin here on the strip in Mandan - NO JOKE. So when Mother Nature responded with a stern "Ummm, just hold on now..." she had plans of her own to push back the misery that we all knew was coming:

( SEE ALSO: AND IT BEGINS: THE CONSTRUCTION NIGHTMARE ON THE STRIP IN MANDAN )

Today is April 25th, so we have had a little bit of time to try and adjust

We are fairly lucky where we are ( Townsquare Media ) - 4303 Memorial Highway - a simple right turn out of our dusty parking lot and the Expressway and 94 within a quarter of a mile. Before all of this construction began, the worry was from our neighbors on the strip - how would their business be affected?

Now, just over two weeks of this, it has made a huge dent in their sales - traffic flow in and out of places is awkward, and some people just drive on by. Bottom line, businesses are losing money - sadly, here are a couple of examples of an empty parking lot -

Not making it easy to pull on in, hence why people drive past

There is some relief planned - Mandan to start a gift card program

City officials are hoping to show support,  according to bismarcktribune.com "Mandan Progress Organization will be running the gift card - residents can buy the gift cards in increments of $25 - between $25 and $100 - sent to them via email or text. A separate bonus gift card, the 25% matched from the Growth Fund, will also be sent digitally"

One observation several of us have brought up

People seem to be extremely patient with the construction situation...I mean we live in North Dakota, where the weather dictates everything ( construction )