A hit country song once said "every storm runs out of rain". Business owners along normally busy but now nearly deserted Western Reserve Road aren't sure how much longer they can ride this storm out.

"Today probably only about a third of our customers are here," says Vince Furrie, president of Village Plaza Sparkle Group.

"It's gonna be great when it's done, but when is it gonna be done?" added Josh Boyle, owner of Youngstown Climb.

"In the last two and a half years, we've lost $1,600,000," said Furrie. "And that's a big nut to take for a small company. We have six stores and we're covering it, but it's not good."

Western Reserve has been flooded with orange barrels and ruts since late 2022.
We reached out to county engineer Pat Ginnetti for a progress report but didn't hear back.
Neither have the business owners.

"We've got no communications at all," Furrie said. "We don't know what's going on, no one's given us an idea how long this is actually gonna be."

When we asked Laura Ahlswede, general manager of Carmella's Cafe how much longer they could continue, she said "we don't know...that's the problem, you can't look to the future and say we can make it six months, a year."

It's drawing a troubling parallel to the situation in downtown Youngstown, with construction and now demolition at nearly every turn.
At this point, the owners would just be content with a compromise.

"I could go on for two years with one lane open, and you know, people have to take turns," said Lisa Lorelli, co-owner and manager at Riser Tavern & Grille. "Right now though, they can only get to us from Hitchcock, and people don't even know they can do it."

A fix that may offer just a bit more shelter from this seemingly never ending rainstorm.