Roseville’s “Big Dig” promises a smoother ride down a notoriously clogged corridor, but at the moment it’s leading to major headaches for some local business owners.

Since construction started in May, side effects of the Cirby Way Improvement Project have included periodic lane closures, blocked parking lot entrances and traffic tie-ups. Now, some in the path of the project say they’re struggling to stay afloat as would-be customers avoid the area.

“We're really having difficulty,” said Roghieh Fathi, whose husband Benny Hassanzdeh runs the Mr. Subs restaurant in a strip mall at 199 Cirby Way, near the epicenter of construction work so far. “It was already a little bit slow because of the economy, and then after construction (started) it got worse and worse.”

The city says the project will ultimately make travel easier along the Cirby Way corridor – which in turn will be good for business.

The $13 million effort is increasing road capacity and adding turn lanes along one of the city’s most jam-packed streets. For instance, the intersection of Cirby Way, Foothills Boulevard and Roseville Road, currently rated an “F” – for “jammed conditions” – will improve two levels to a “D,” which is characterized by “tolerable delays.”

But the entire project isn’t slated for completion until December. And Chhorn Ta, co-owner of Mr. Donut with her husband a few doors down from Fathi’s sandwich shop, said she’s not sure she can hold out that long. So far, business is down 65 percent, she said.

Although she said she was recently told work immediately in front of her center would end shortly, “it’s still going on on the other side, further down. It’s the same traffic.”

On a recent afternoon, her counters were filled with bear claws, éclairs, cinnamon rolls and doughnuts of all stripes (and sprinkles) that she said would normally be sold out by that time of day. Even the regulars who have been coming to her shop for years are steering clear, she said.

“It’s hard to turn, hard to come in,” she said, explaining that many long-time customers have simply changed their driving habits and no longer pass her store on the way to work.

City officials said they’re sensitive to the businesses’ situation.

Megan MacPherson, spokeswoman for the city of Roseville, said planners sought input from business owners years before construction commenced, and have continued to stay in touch throughout the process.

“We have contacted the business owners leading up to the project and have been in contact weekly, if not twice a week, to check in with them and see if there’s anything we could be doing better,” she said.

One thing that came out of those meetings is a electronic sign that directs customers of 199 Cirby Way to use an entrance off of Vernon Street.

“We care about the businesses. We want them to succeed the better for the community and the city,” she said. “We’re trying to do what we can to enhance access.”

(The Press-Tribune, located at 188 Cirby Way, is also located inside the current construction zone.)

Donna Gallagher, the property manager for 199 Cirby Way, said she and tenants aren’t against the improvements.

“We’re not fighting against the fact that they need public improvements; the issue is what damages are occurring to my tenants, the loss of income,” she said.

What she wants is clearer pavement markings telling southbound Vernon Street traffic not to block the center’s Vernon Street entrance, and a pledge that city contractors won’t block either the center’s Cirby Way or Vernon Street ingress (the dispute has resulted in litigation, which is continuing to wend its way through the legal process).

Still, not everyone in the vicinity is confronting a precipitous drop-off in business.

Lilly Feyster, manager at Chakra’s Spa at 198 Cirby Way, across the street from the shopping center at 199 Cirby Way, said her customers are taking the construction for the most part in stride, even though front access to her parking lot has been blocked for weeks.

“It’s slower, but it’s not that dramatic,” she said of business. “We are telling them that we have construction, so plan a little more time to get here.”

She said she was more concerned with the high rate of accidents at the intersection of Cirby Way and Vernon Street and is hoping the reconfigured street will improve safety.

“Right across at the traffic light, almost every month there’s an accident here,” she said. “I believe it’s going to be much better.”

Zachary Siviglia, traffic engineer for the city of Roseville, said the project remains on schedule – and will be worth it when all is said and done. Work should be complete in the immediate area of 199 Cirby Way around mid to late September, he said.

Two repaved southbound lanes on Cirby Way were recently opened to traffic, and paving will now begin on two center lanes; southbound traffic will be routed onto those lanes in about a week, while paving work commences on the two current southbound lanes.

Work has also started on a free right-turn lane for westbound vehicles on Cirby Way traveling northbound onto Foothills Boulevard, Siviglia said.

For now, though, those improvements don’t do much for the bottom line of some business owners.

Customers “don't have enough time,” Fathi said. “They come for their lunch time and then spend all their time in the street.”