Sherman Minton: Stalled traffic and business

> SOUTHERN INDIANA — When the Sherman Minton Bridge closed Sept. 9 because of a 2 1/2 inch crack in a support beam — traffic was the initial concern.

Throughout the next week, commuters crept slowly along the highways, with the regular rush hour drive extending anywhere from an hour to nearly three hours, as the remaining two spans across the Ohio River took on the 80,000 vehicles a day that were traversing the Sherman Minton between New Albany and West Louisville.

Area residents have adjusted to the inconvenience, and while there can still be significant delays, traffic flow between Southern Indiana and Louisville has improved.

But the closure has been felt well beyond the traffic jams, and is affecting Southern Indiana businesses.

And despite an announcement by Gov. Mitch Daniels, R-Ind., and Gov. Steve Beshear, D-Ky., that the timeline to repair the bridge is estimated at six months, some area businesses are wondering if they will be able to sustain their operations through the closure or what shape they’ll be in when the bridge does reopen.

Too early to tell

With the Sherman Minton closing, the initial economic data is just starting to roll in and it may be too early to tell what the full extent of the bridge’s closure will have on Southern Indiana businesses.

“According to initial claims for unemployment, there has been no impact on jobs in Floyd and Clark counties,” said Uric Dufrene, Indiana University Southeast’s Sanders Chair of the School of Business in an email. “Even though there has been no noticeable impact on jobs, it is impacting business. But as in all shocks, there could be winners and losers.”

Jim Keith, Clark and Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau executive director, said one of the initial winners has been area hotels and motels. He said the increase in business is because of the workers and consultants repairing on the Sherman Minton have boosted occupancy at the region’s hotels.

But Keith added that the impact on local businesses has been “a mixed bag.”

For other area businesses, Dufrene explained that some retailers could see a boost from traffic being rerouted past their locations or that residents may seek out Southern Indiana alternatives instead of traveling across the river. However, the alternative is if the business has a strong Louisville customer base it could suffer during the bridge closure.

Despite the impact, good or bad, the relatively short time frame in which the bridge will be shut down is not expected to cause local businesses to substantially restructure their work force or business model.

“Companies are probably reluctant to let go of good employees ... even though their particular establishment may be seeing a decline in sales,” Dufrene said, explaining employment figures.

He said that pre-existing business partnerships spanning the river also will likely be able to be maintained through the bridge closure.

“I think for the most part, customers and vendors will not want to part ways,” Dufrene said. “So while the bridge does provide an obstruction, people will do everything they can to maintain that relationship, both from a customer and vendor perspective.”

However, he did add the bridge’s closure may have an impact elsewhere.

“Long term, the bridge closure is not good for economic development,” Dufrene said. “Employers considering Louisville or Southern Indiana might look at other locations, given the current challenges of the Sherman Minton Bridge, and the lack of a new bridge.”

Immediate impact and growth?

While the long-term impact of the span’s closure will not be known for some time, when the bridge shut down it affected some businesses immediately.

Kim Huber Kaiser, president of Joe Huber Family Farm and Restaurant, said the day the Sherman Minton bridge closed, a national quartet convention arrived in Louisville. She explained the restaurant normally sees a very strong boost in business the weekend that the convention is in town. But this September, many did not make the regular trek to Starlight.

“That’s where we were most affected,” Kasier said. “We were down a good 40 to 50 percent.”

But since that initial drop, she said the business has not been affected.

“We have had record-breaking crowds since the first of October,” Kaiser said.

Autumn is one of the peak times for the Huber Family Farm, and Kaiser said over the years it has become a tradition for many area families to go to the farm in the fall to visit the you pick pumpkin patches and apple orchards. And despite estimating that 60 to 70 percent of the Huber’s business comes from Louisville, fall revenues have remained strong.

However, she is still concerned that the bridge’s closure could affect the business, especially the restaurant’s weekday business, and has decided not to make any changes for now.

“I am still in the wait and see [mode],” she said.

Business logistics

New Albany-based Padgett, Inc. — a crane, machine and equipment rental company — decided not to follow the wait-and-see approach and has modified its operation. Aaron Pike, crane sales manager at Padgett, said the majority of their work is in the Louisville region and other areas of Kentucky.

“We’ve always had to take our equipment over the Sherman Minton Bridge, which was convenient for us because we’re in New Albany,” he said.

But with the closure of the Interstate 64 span, the company has lost its means of transporting heavy equipment across the Ohio River.

“You just can’t take anything across the Kennedy [bridge]” Pike said. “Nobody cared too much about it when the Sherman Minton was open.”

The Kennedy Bridge has restrictions for hauling oversized loads across the Interstate 65 span.

“We cross the bridge at strange times and we’ve left a lot of equipment in Louisville,” Pike said.

He explained that many of the customers, when they rent the cranes, need them within a short timeframe.

“Normally, we would have everything here,” Pike said of the company’s New Albany headquarters.

Heavy loads can still be transported across the river via the Clark Memorial Bridge, but it requires a special permit and is limited to overnight access. The restrictions limit the heavy hauls to cross the bridge between midnight and 4 a.m. And the permitting process also takes time, which Padgett has been able to be avoid to date.

Pike said the biggest change has been daily scheduling at Padgett, which has been trying to keep its employees from having to cross the river, instead having them go straight to the job site.

“The bottom line hasn’t been affected as far as how much work we’ve had, but it has been affected by the amount of work we do,” Pike said. “It’s just a little more work for everybody involved, but I don’t think we’ll have any major problems. It’s just part of the regular day.”

Hunting for more business

The regular day for Sycamore Island Inc. — which sells fishing and hunting products at its store and online and also has a pay fishing pond — has become irregular.

Owner James Proctor said the two-man operation off Corydon Pike in New Albany has taken a substantial hit since the bridge was shut down.

“It just dropped off considerably, maybe 55 to 60 percent,” he said.

He said that he didn’t believe that customers from Louisville were stopping at other fishing and hunting retailers closer to the Kennedy or Clark Memorial Bridges, but staying on their respective side of the river.

To try and keep his customer base, Sycamore Island has extended its hours. Instead of closing at 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, the store is open until 7 p.m. and on Sundays, the hours have been extended until 3 p.m., from 1 p.m.

In addition, Proctor said he is trying to increase his presence online and has begun winterizing boats to draw in more customers. But he added it’s too early to tell if its having the desired effect.

“If it has [helped], you can’t tell that much,” he said.

Proctor said being able to keep his business open may come down to the strength of his spring sales. He explained that the peak time for his business is March through November, so the closure has cut out more than half of his business for one of his strongest quarters in the fall and, if the trend continues, will do the same for his spring quarter.

“If it’s anything like it is now, it’s going to affect it a whole lot,” he said.

There is uncertainty about whether or not he can absorb a 50 to 60 percent reduction in his business over two quarters and maintain his business.

“I’m going to try to, I don’t know,” Proctor said. “It’s really going to be tough.”

Cut-off customer base?

Jeffersonville-based Benton Jewelers also has seen its business hurt.

“I think the reason we are feeling it a little more ... [is] 70 percent of our customers come from Louisville,” said Owner Jim Benton.

He said the impact on his business along Court Avenue was immediate.

“We dropped 40 percent in September,” he said.

When the bridge initially closed down, Benton said some of his customers were so concerned with the traffic that they said they would wait until the bridge was fixed before they came to pick up their orders.

Since the announcement that the Sherman Minton will remain shut down for six months, Benton said he has adjusted his business to retain his customers.

“We will stay later when necessary,” he said. “I’m trying to do everything I can. I’m just hoping we can get through the lean times.”

Benton said that many of his Louisville customers are changing their habits and coming in on Saturdays. But he is still concerned that during the closure, some of his regular patrons will go to another jeweler to avoid the traffic congestion, and when the bridge reopens, he may not be able to recapture those customers that were lost.

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