Sure, the stimulus bill will pump money into the economy and fix some glaring infrastructure problems, but some St. Peter business people worry that one of the projects — reconstruction of Hwy. 169 as it goes through downtown — may create new problems.
“We’re excited, we’re jazzed for the city to look better and more friendly,” business owner Tia Summers told the Mankato Free Press. “But it’s just really scary. Six months without our bread and butter? We might not be here in six months.”
St. Peter Chamber of Commerce President Larry Haugen said “cautious optimism” might best describe the business community’s mindset.
“Obviously, any time you do a major reconstruction, there are concerns,” he said. “But the major ingredient in the whole project is going to be attitude. It’s going to happen and we’ve got to make the best of what we’ve got.”
The business community and the city are putting together a task force to encourage proper routing signage from the Minnesota Department of Transportation throughout the project.
This article is solely about St. Peter merchants and businesses that are affected by a potential Hwy 169 reconstruction in St. Peter. The headline and first graph incorrectly refer to Mankato, not St. Peter.
We’ve corrected the errors.