(Arnolds Park)– Even though road work is underway on Highway 71 through Arnolds Park and Okoboji, businesses through the construction zone remain open and accessible. Rebecca Peters of Okoboji Tourism says that’s the message they want to really get out there right now…
“I just have to say that the Iowa D.O.T has done such a good job at keeping traffic moving through very smoothly through Highway 71 and also making sure that all businesses are accessible during this time. So if you have a craving to go to one of those restaurants in Okoboji or Arnolds Park area and you think to yourself, oh my, I don’t want to deal with that traffic, don’t worry about it. You can easily get to all of them and you can enjoy all of your favorite stops right along Highway 71.”
Blain Andera, President and CEO of the Iowa Great Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce, says there’s misinformation out there insinuating the construction is going to be taking place all summer long. He says the chamber is starting up a special campaign to address that…
“You know we’ve been hearing that there’s perhaps somebody that works part-time at a restaurant or something is not aware that it’s not going to be throughout the whole summer and there’s some mixed messaging out there. So we’re really working hard to get the word out to the businesses and provide them with some concrete information that they can in turn share with their employees and post for their employees to have everybody sharing the same messages, that hey, you know what? It is a little bit tough to get around right now but you still can. Businesses are open and it will be done by Memorial Day for the spring session.”
Peters emphasizes that same point…
“We obviously all know that this project needs to get done, but we have a lot of extra traffic with our visitors every summer and so the D.O.T has done a great job at ensuring that phase one of this construction project will be completed by the time Memorial Day Weekend rolls around, so we won’t see any of this construction during the summer. It’s just going to be a minor inconvenience right now and then the countdown is on to summer when we say goodbye to those construction workers and say hello to all of our visitors.”
Work on the project will then resume after this coming Labor Day.
You can sign up for project updates by clicking here.
