Ogden roadwork ordeal for stores ends

OGDEN — After sinking $1.6 million into a new Chevron service station, car wash and convenience store in 1999, the Blair family was enjoying great success on the corner of 30th Street and Monroe Boulevard.

Then the construction began.

Like Salt Lake County businesses caught in the snare of I-15 reconstruction, or Main Street and 400 South businesses affected by light-rail construction in Salt Lake City, Ed Blair Chevron struggled to survive as 30th Street, 31st Street and Wall Avenue were widened and rebuilt.

"We had some really loyal customers that went out of their way to come in," station manager Bart Blair said Wednesday. "It was tough, but we knew it was going to get better, so we did stay open. . . . We had to make some cutbacks with employees and employee hours."

Wednesday, the ordeal ended when Utah Department of Transportation crews opened the last reconstructed stretch of 30th Street. A grand opening ceremony was held, fittingly enough, on the corner of 30th and Monroe in front of Ed Blair Chevron.

"He's been a real trouper, and we hope the best for him," Ogden Mayor Matthew Godfrey said of station owner Bob Blair, son of Ed and father of Bart. "We hope people will rush back to his store and give him the patronage he needs to continue to be a thriving and successful business."

The same can be said for a total of 77 businesses affected by work on the three central-Ogden thoroughfares.

"This has been, I think, a difficult one, one that has had many problems and troubles," Godfrey said of the $14.3 million project which began in the spring of 2002. "And there's been many conversations about how we can work together to try to find ways to overcome some of the obstacles."

Wall Avenue was widened between 23rd and 33rd streets, 30th was widened from Wall Avenue to Washington Boulevard, and a smaller section of 31st was widened.

Work on the eastern segment of 30th, in front of Ed Blair's Chevron, began in February — for a two-month period this summer, both 30th and Monroe were closed to all but local traffic. That's when the business saw its income drop by nearly 60 percent.

---

E-MAIL: zman@desnews.com