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Road Construction along WCR 127 hurting local business

MIDLAND COUNTY - If you drive down Highway 80, it's a sight you can't miss a huge cloud of dust billowing up between 1788 and Coors Road, and for some businesses along West County Road 127, it's not just a nuisance, it's affecting their sales.
by Hema Mullur
NewsWest 9

Hundreds of cars drive down WCR 127 every day, kicking up a lot of dirt.  It's a problem they've been facing for months, and one restaurant here on the road says these clouds of dust have really affected their business.

Sizzling potatoes and soft, warm tortillas, all with a side of dust?

"I've seen the dust all the way up to Highway 80," said Emma Fabela.

Crews removed the top coat of WCR 127 months ago, leaving behind a layer of loose dirt, and now everytime a big truck rolls by.

"A big truck comes by, and puts up dust, and you can't even see the car behind it," said Matthew Jones, who drives on the road nearly every day.

"We've had a close encounter with a traffic accident with two 18 wheelers where one of them was turning making a right hand turn and didn't see the other truck coming from the left,"  Emma Fabela agrees.  "The dust was just so, so, so intense, that it was really bad."

And when the cars can't see each other, they certainly can't see Fabela's restaurant.

"People don't want to have to travel through the dust, and come into the restaurant, and it's all dusty," she said.  "We've even had days that we've lost even fifty percent of our business."

Fabela's has been cooking up it's fresh, hot Mexican food for 10 years this month, and they say this is the first time they've ever seen the road conditions so bad.

"This year has been really bad," said Fabela.  "They've done work, road repairs, but it was never as bad as it is now."

It's gotten to the point where this business owner is looking for an alternative.

"I have a shop about a mile west of here, and I'm trying to go down Coors Road, and come the long way around to get here," said Dale Jones.  "I avoid this road as much as possible, but there's times I have to come down it."

Now they're just wondering who's responsible for cleaning up the mess.

"I've talked to the some of the guys that are working and they'll just say, "well, we're working on the problem," and that's basically the only answer that I've gotten," said Fabela.

"They've got to fix this thing," feels Dale Jones.  "And I don't know why it takes so long to pave the road."

We made some phone calls about the problem.

Midland County Commissioner Jimmy Smith tells us they had plans to finally pave the road next weekend, but another bout of rain is putting that off once again.

They say they can't pave during the week because there's just too much traffic, but as soon as the weather clears up, the work will be completed.

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