Some Gray Street business owners believe a possible completion of the two-way road conversion could bring more patronage to the stores in the corridor, while others are worried about the future availability of parking and how the project will affect their business.
Norman residents have seen the transformation of Main Street and Gray Street into a one-way street since the early 1970s, following the trend across the country at the time.
The two-way Gray Street will return when the city completes the conversion project scheduled for spring 2023.
The project will start in 2023 after being postponed for a year, according to city officials.
Public Works Director Sean O’Leary said that the transport bond elections in 2019 identified the Gray Street project as one of five bond projects that will be fully funded with about $ 4.8 million in bond money.
The remaining 14 of the 19 bond-related projects were expected to receive federal funding that would be aligned with local bond funding.
O’Leary said that the Association of Central Oklahoma Governments “changed the formula for obtaining federal transportation grant funds”, and as a result, the city reconsidered its approach to the bond program.
The “two-way gray” became eligible for more than $ 1.7 million in federal transport grant funds this year, but the use of federal funds meant a six-month delay in construction to ensure the project met federal guidelines.
It is estimated that it will take 9-12 months to complete the project, O’Leary said.
Devon Carter, owner of Betty Lou’s Flowers and Gifts, said her parents Dwight and Betty Lou Mitchell brought the business to Gray Street 24 years ago.
The store is located west of University Boulevard, where a two-way street ends.
Carter said that the project has the potential to revitalize this area, in which several companies have left in the last few years.
“Many companies have disappeared on the corner [where] Norman Music Center [was]”Carter said. “It’s been there like a ghost town lately.”
After all, Carter believes the added convenience of driving both ways down Gray Street will prove beneficial to businesses on Gray Street east of University Boulevard.
But she is not sure that it will affect the scope of her patron.
“I think the two-way Gray will be great and will bring more work to businesses at that end of the street,” Carter said.
Jerry Steele, co-owner of J-Bird Boutique, said that two-way traffic across Gray Street would mean increased visibility of the store, which is difficult to see due to the pawnshop in the neighborhood.
“They’re with us before you realize there’s a store,” Steele said.
He hopes that the traffic will slow down when the construction in Gray Street is completed.
Steele said that the combination of a two-way street and the eventual arrival of the Standard will strengthen the synergy between Main Street and Gray Street during events such as Second Friday Art Walk, of which J-Bird Boutique is a participant.
“We are 100 feet away from that and we have very little to do,” Steele said.
But not every company is optimistic about construction. Emily Soreghan and Braden Denton, co-owners of Gray Owl Coffee owned by the workers, say the main concern of the collective is that Gray Street could experience similar effects as the companies in Lindsay Street experienced during that road project. Construction of Lindsay Street began in 2015 and was completed in 2018.
Soregan said that they hope that the project will mean that more people will be patrons of the shop, but they are still worried about what closing the streets means for her.
“We were a little worried about whether we would simply be closed or access to the shops would be closed,” Soregan said. “Small shops like us don’t have a ton of resources. I feel like you saw on Lindsay Street that the stores that managed to survive were mostly chains that could withstand the closure of one of their locations for 12 months.
Denton said that he is worried about parking in that area and that he hopes that the two-way Gray Street will not take away places immediately outside the lane they occupy.
He said the store depends on those places.
O’Leary did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday regarding concerns.
But Denton is also tentatively excited that he will finally start the project he has been hearing about for years.
“It could do more damage in the short term, but it seems to be the right move for the area,” Denton said.