The sudden closure of a South City bridge has left Park Avenue Coffee owner Dale Schotte fearing consequences for business at his Columbia Avenue branch.

City officials decided yesterday to close the century-old bridge, which traverses a railway track to link Columbia Avenue to Southwest Avenue. Traffic coming from Southwest no longer has direct access to Columbia, denying customers access to Park Avenue.

The abruptness of the closure left Schotte and his team stunned. “They were in the area, looked at the bridge and felt the bridge was unsafe for vehicular traffic. They literally made that determination this morning, and closed the bridge by 2 p.m. No warning. They didn’t bother even to tell us,” Schotte said.

A plan was in place to replace two aging bridges in the neighborhood—the one on Columbia and another nearby on Southwest—with a single new bridge on Southwest. That construction was supposed to start in 2021, Schotte said. Now he anxiously waits to see if the bridge will remain closed, and if so, whether his business will be affected.

“This bridge is going to be closed for at least five years. If we lose that traffic, I don’t know that we’ll sustain for five years with a retail space in this location,” Schotte said.

Schotte estimates that customers stopping in for coffee on the way to work account for around 70 percent of revenue at Park Avenue’s Columbia branch.

“The way it is now, we have a lot of traffic that comes across that bridge to visit our coffee shop in the morning on the way to work,” Schotte said. “Well now that that’s closed, they’re going to have to drive a mile out of the way to get to us.”

The coffee shop owner fears that the inconvenience may drive busy customers to choose to get their coffee elsewhere. However, Schotte’s message is that Park Avenue remains very much open on Columbia.

“The neighborhood has been super supportive, and I just hope they continue to be super supportive even if it becomes a little more inconvenient to visit us,” Schotte said. “We’ve got a great, loyal customer base, but we really need their support now, more than ever.”