in our spotlight on business report tonight at long last traffic is flowing again on Route 80 in Morris County the state DOT opened two eastbound lanes late Wednesday night after more than two months of closures for sinkhole repairs construction is still ongoing on the westbound side in that same section but local business owners tell Ted Goldberg this was a critical first step it's going to be a brand new world again for us after months of bad news and worse traffic people in Wharton found relief this morning when two eastbound lanes of I80 finally reopen we had CO beat the hell out of us we had the St beat the hell out of it and I think the locust are coming in naughty Pine pub owner Jim Hill thought of Exodus after seeing traffic parted near his pub it would take me an hour and a half to get here on Friday nights or any night after four o'clock so to get here in 16 minutes today was a a godsend what are you gonna do with all this extra time i'm gonna work we our numbers have been so bad and my bartenders have been getting killed more than 800 businesses have applied for grants from the state's economic development authority which has set aside $5.5 million for affected businesses within 5 miles of the closures only enough to help pay my payroll and and take care of that nothing that would change our lives at all i was down $25,000 for the first quarter and I was down almost 10 grand just for April everything is helpful uh but most importantly is getting the roads back open up and having these two lanes is a great start naughty Pine and Pops Bagel Shop are two of the 300 or so businesses who have been approved co-owner Yasin Muheisen and his customers noticed fewer cars and trucks outside today it definitely is a big difference this is we're back to where it used to be before all this so it's it's nice to see that things are starting to flow again we definitely have seen a lot of faces that we haven't seen in 4 months so it's nice to see uh our the our you know regulars starting to come back and uh you know endure less traffic usually traffic is backed up way down to there past 80 and the little street that goes out that's backed up david Sullivan is happy to be back after traffic kept him away leave an extra 40 minutes early to get to work coming home at night it's another 40 minutes when they said they were going to open it up last night something was going to happen cuz they said it three or four times already you feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel almost i hope so but it's probably the train coming while other customers fought through traffic for their favorite breakfast I love the food i like the the service and I like I like the place i have patient i have nothing to do just come enjoy my breakfast a few people told me that for the first time since this whole mess started they finally have some optimism for the Department of Transportation's timetable as of now all lanes of I80 are scheduled to reopen in late June provided there are no setbacks between now and then even up until yesterday uh I was asked really re it it's really opening now um you know I'll see it when I believe it assemblywoman Orura Dunn praised how leaders responded to this crisis helping local business owners find their ways to state grants and lowinterest federal loans this was a lifeline for so many small business owners and in many ways maybe the silver lining to CO is that we we learned how to swiftly respond generally I think the feedback's been pretty positive obviously it's a really tough time so we're not expecting thank you cards and and uh you know a parade tim Sullivan leads the EDA which has approved $2 million so far in grants there's another $3.5 million up for grabs and now businesses in parts of Sussex County are eligible to apply it was originally pivoted off of the governor's emergency declaration which was just for Morris County um but I think there's there was a a pretty clear case made that um that the business impact uh was a little broader than that i don't imagine anybody in this area will complain about traffic again after this is fully over mine Hill Mayor Sam Morris is one of several local leaders grateful for the work done by the Department of Transportation over the last few months be able to commute to the school here teachers were like "Holy cow I didn't sit for an hour and 10 minutes to take a 25-minute ride."

Grants range from $1,000 up to $15,000 for companies trying to attract foot traffic now with less car traffic to hold them back in Wharton I'm Ted Goldberg NJ Spotlight News support for the business report is provided by Riverview Jazz presenting the 12th annual Jersey City Jazz Festival May 27th to the 31st event details including performance schedules and location are online at jerseycityjazzfestestival.com [Music]