ROADWORKS KILLING CAFE
Owner says he’s on ‘struggle street’ since Cooyar work started
ONGOING roadworks have pushed a business to breaking point after tourist traffic dried up.
Garry McCoy opened McCoy’s Cafe six years ago, and he had a big vision for the Cooyar business.
The former professional motorcycle racer (pictured) filled the space with memorabilia and dreamt of transforming the themed cafe into a riding destination for the town.
But Cooyar is now a ghost town thanks to lengthy roadworks on the New England Highway that have been delayed by more than 150 days.
“We’ve had bushfires, floods and Covid, so every disaster … and then the roadworks hit, and it’s been the worst of it all,” he said.
WHEN Garry McCoy opened McCoy’s Cafe six years ago, he had a big vision for the Cooyar business.
The former professional motorcycle racer filled the space with memorabilia and dreamt of transforming the themed cafe into a riding destination for the town.
Despite the initial success of the venture, Mr McCoy said the area was now virtually a ghost town after lengthy roadworks on the New England Highway between Crows Nest and Cooyar.
“We’ve had bushfires, floods and Covid, so every disaster you can imagine and then the roadworks hit, and it’s been the worst of it all because it’s stopped people from travelling through the town,” Mr McCoy said.
“At the start I felt like I had really achieved something, but after copping one thing after another, I consider whether it’s worth staying open at all anymore – I’m on struggle street.”
The purpose of the works, which the Department of Transport and Main Roads started in May last year, was to widen the highway to 10m and resurface sections between Log Yard Road and south of the Schnick Road turn-off.
Some customers have told the cafe owner they’ve been using a detour to go around Cooyar and avoid the long waits at the temporary traffic lights.
As a result of the decline in visitors, Mr McCoy said he was forced to close his cafe during the week, now opening only on weekends. He has also reduced staff levels and removed items from his menu.
He also had to find employment elsewhere and said he was using the income to help cover the operating costs of his cafe.
Mr McCoy said before the roadworks started, he welcomed patrons from as far as Bundaberg and Ballina with customers struggling to find a car park in the once “buzzing” town.
“(My regulars) still come here on their bikes and tell me how they’ve been left sitting out in the stinking hot sun waiting for the lights for ages and they’re completely disgusted,” he said.
“(TMR) hasn’t tried to contact me once – I’ve tried to ring them plenty of times but don’t have the time to sit on the phone for an hour and just listen to hold music.”
A Transport and Main Roads spokeswoman said the project was initially expected to be completed in July, but had since been pushed back to March next year, due to wet weather and construction delays.
“Since the upgrade started, the rainfall has been much higher than average with almost 30 wet-weather events occurring, resulting in more than 150 lost construction days,” she said.
“Wet-weather events halt and reduce construction times, and result in added non-construction days while the site dries out for machinery to reenter and works to begin.
“We acknowledge these works have taken longer than anticipated.”
While data shows recorded traffic volumes increased on this section of the New England Highway last year, there are no counters at the project site so TMR could not confirm if this has changed since the project commenced.
The spokeswoman said while TMR was unaware of any local business owners who were considering closing their business due to the roadworks, construction teams had supported businesses in the area throughout the project.
“Local residents and property owners were advised of the works before the project started via a project notification flyer and media statement – electronic signs were also positioned along the highway in advance of works starting,” the spokeswoman said.