A temporary road is making access to Stewart Avenue in Wausau a little easier.

After dealing with road construction issues for years, it's giving business owners along the road a break.

The corner of S. 18th and Stewart Avenues has always been busy, until this major construction project brought traffic to a crawl.

Before the temporary access road was made, getting to Stewart Avenue was a little tricky.

"In order to access Stewart Avenue from the east side of town you had to utilize 18th Avenue and that's pretty much shut down the rest of summer," said Dean Day, owner of Day's Bowl-a-Dome, located at 1715 Stewart Ave.

But now there's an alternate route.

Drivers can access Stewart Ave from S. 17th Ave. The parking lot alongside Day's has been transformed into a temporary road.

"I felt I had to do my part in keeping Stewart Avenue open this summer. We've got 18 restaurants including our own that rely on lunch time traffic," Day said.

Many drivers are taking advantage of the access road, but the construction is still taking a toll on business.

The owner of Philly's Subs at 2111 Stewart Ave, says his profit has dropped 18 percent, and he's had to make adjustments.

"We're doing some direct email campaigns to try and get people in, social netowrking with facebook, as well as we purchased a delivery vehicle to take our food to the customers rather than have them come here," Tim Wimmer said.

He's also had to cut store hours, and now closes at 8 p.m. rather than 9 p.m.

Wimmer says he thinks the temporary access road is helpful, as long as people know about it.