SPRING, Texas — Along a busy stretch of Rayford Road are businesses hidden in plain sight.
Even though thousands of vehicles pass by daily, drivers aren't able to easily pull into the parking lots.
Last week, a section of Rayford was closed off in both directions as crews work on a new railroad overpass near Lazy Lane. The closure has cut off several local businesses from the road.
Two business owners say the roads were closed with no warning to them.
“It has affected us a lot,” said Erica Garces, an employee at Jjigae, a Korean restaurant. “We have hours where we are not seeing anybody. We hardly see any cars pass by.”
Garces says Jjigae has already taken a hit, especially during their busy lunch hours.
“Most people, they only have an hour, or so many minutes, before they go back to work, and this turnaround is very hard for them to get through,” Garces said.
There is a detour that only takes an extra few minutes. However, it’s not overly clear and it takes a bit of patience to find. Kaeleigh Jordan, a concerned community member created a map to help drivers and posted it to her Rayford Road community Facebook page.
Garces says they were told the project won’t be done until mid-January.
“I don’t know if we could stay open if it continues for that long,” admits David Perez, a Jjigae employee.
The owner of another restaurant next door called Shack-a-bun, says they’ve seen an 80 to 90 percent drop in sales this week, only selling four hotdogs all day on Tuesday.
Both restaurants say they’ve lost money on their delivery meals as DoorDash and Uber Eats just can’t find them and end up canceling the orders after the food has been prepared.
However, some regulars are making the effort.
“I mean, my parents were small business owners and I think about them,” said Holly Chrostowski, a Jjigae customer. “And if, when they were in operation, something like that happened it would be devastating to our family.”
“We don’t have any extra chefs or anything,” explained Graces, “it’s just one team of us trying to survive.”