The staff at Cork Soakers in Cape Coral are excited the portion of street work in front of the bar is complete in time for Bike Night Saturday.
"A lot of foot traffic, people are able to go to bars and hop and not just go to tents,” said employee Robert Leppert.
Bike Night is usually held a few times a year, and this is the first time it is taking place amid the massive street scaling project that began earlier this year.
It's a beautification project that also includes a new roundabout and replacement of the sewage system.
The work has been causing headaches for local businesses along 47th Terrace, but employees at Cork Soakers say the finished product should help them in the long run.
"They actually built the sidewalks, they re-did everything, so it's actually a downtown feel,” said Leppert.
But next door at Ciao Wood Fired Pizza it's a different story, the restaurant has more of a sit down, formal atmosphere.
Owner Jill Bacus doesn't think people who attend bike night or the concert that follows will want to come to her restaurant.
"The bands that they have are rock and roll of course, we'd always love to have rock and rollers come in,” said Bacus.
Bacus says she wishes the city would have done a better job communicating the timeline of the construction, which isn't supposed to be completely finished until February.
Even though the roads by her business are finished, she says customers are having a hard time finding the restaurant.
"We get a lot of phone calls, we tried to get to you, but they closed the street because they were putting trees in."
Besides bringing in events like Bike Night, Bacus says the city could do a better job of promoting and supporting businesses along 47th Terrace, like her’s that have endured months of construction.
"There's 180,000 people who live here, I sit 50 people, we shouldn't have to struggle,” said Bacus.
We asked city officials if there were any major changes planned for Bike Night due to the construction but did not hear back Friday.
