For two weeks now, Main Street has been torn up for a $1 million repaving project. Traffic backs up to Cherry Road, and during rush hour, side streets are bumper to bumper with drivers hoping to find a better way around the clog.

"It's a big mess," said Scott Beckham, manager at ICI Paints.

His store is in the middle of the dust, orange cones and heavy machinery. His customers are loyal, but he's still not as busy.

"This is our busiest season of the year, and it's not what it should be," he said. "It's noticeably affected our in and out traffic, and it has blocked our driveway at times during the day."

On March 26, a city of Rock Hill employee went door to door with a letter alerting businesses to the upcoming work. The letter said the project would be finished by April 3 unless there were weather delays.

South Carolina Department of Transportation spokesman John Huskins said that's exactly what happened.

"We've had some rain and some cold nights, too. We can't lay concrete when it's below 45 degrees," Huskins said.

So what was a two-week project will likely become a four-week project.

Wilson's Nursery sits near Cherry Road, the last section of West Main to see construction. So far, customers have had little trouble, but the road work is getting closer.

"I think that's when we'll slow down here," said manager Yvonne Wilson. "Spring break is our busiest time. (That’s) when teachers are here buying plants. That's when everybody starts working in the garden."

Wilson worries that customers will go elsewhere if they must navigate construction to reach the parking lot. However, she said so far construction crews have worked with them, directing traffic, and making sure customers had access to the nursery.

Beckham said that hasn't been his experience. He expects the project to miss the next deadline too, which is April 17.

"I'd say at least a month before they'll get to the end of it," he said.

Huskins said road crews are working as fast as possible and trying to minimize the inconvenience. Crews are even taking overnight shifts to speed things up, but freezing temperatures caused them to lose a few nights this week.

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