SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) – The Dean Forest Road Bridge was closed for construction Wednesday and is not scheduled to reopen until Sunday evening at 7 p.m.
This is putting more burden on drivers as well as business owners in the area.
Ronnie’s restaurant is already facing the burden of losing customers to the bypass.
“I think it’s going to be a long week,” said Shawn Apfel, co-owner of the restaurant. “I was doing better sales during the COVID lockdown when everything was closed and people couldn’t even dine at my bar.”
Shawn has been a co-owner for years now and tells WSAV the road closure has dried up traffic that could bring him business.
“I’ve been here basically every day for the last few years. It’s probably not even a tenth of the cars that normally go to ramp 16,” he said.
This creates a lot of empty seats for the restaurant that has been standing for more than 40 years now.
“Today I probably sat through about 20 orders served since we got here at 6 o’clock in the morning,” Apfel said.
Behind Ronnie’s are several gas stations. News 3 spoke with a cashier who said she was late for work because of the detour – she spent an hour trying to get to work.
A lorry driver who uses Dean Forest said “it’s bad” and the diversion is a headache for anyone going to work in the morning.
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) admits it’s inconvenient, but says the closure is necessary to complete a different diamond interchange.
Once complete, GDOT says the interchange will make traffic safer and reduce congestion.
Again, the closure is scheduled to reopen at 7pm on Sunday.
The exchange of different diamonds should be completed in early 2024.
