Whether you're stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic waiting for your fix of Chick-fil-A or waiting to avoid traffic surrounding the restaurant, you're in a jam.
Traffic backups onto West Ridge Road have been a constant nuisance since Chick-fil-A opened on April 12 in Greece, and neighbors and nearby businesses are grasping for solutions.
The drive-thru lanes sometimes spill outside of the parking lot onto Standish Road and into the westbound lanes on West Ridge Road adjacent to the restaurant. Vehicles turning left at the light onto Standish from West Ridge Road then merge into the drive-thru backup.
Neighboring business owners say they're suffering. Commuters are losing patience. Residents are thinking of moving.
"What is the plan? Is there a plan?" questioned David Silloway, owner of Bike Zone, a bike shop located directly to the east of Chick-fil-A. Restaurant customers have been using his lot and residential driveways, he said.
The plan appears to be wait and see.
"It's going to die down," Greece Town Supervisor Bill Reilich said. He travels by the restaurant daily and said the traffic has "diminished quite considerably."
Still, there have been discussions among the town, franchise owner Alan Taylor, and the Chick-fil-A corporation about "ways to improve efficiencies," Reilich said. Among the ideas is to reconfigure the parking lot.
Traffic congestion at Chick-fil-A occurs across the country as fans flock for a taste of the restaurant's famous chicken sandwich and lemonade. If the Greece restaurant doesn't decrease in popularity, there may not be an easy solution — just ask other cities.
The Democrat and Chronicle reached out more than half a dozen towns and cities with Chick-fil-A locations. Across the board, officials said they were grateful to have the restaurant. But many had to work to remedy their traffic problems. Some are still trying.
What did Bellevue do?
Chick-fil-A opened its first restaurant in the city of Bellevue, Washington, about 10 miles from Seattle, in 2015.
Like Greece, Bellevue had an initial surge in traffic that continued for months.
"Its popularity, as well as its location, has been a challenge ... since it opened," said Rick Logwood, the right of way manager for the city of Bellevue.
The city and the restaurant owners have been trying to find solutions to unclog the mix of area traffic and Chick-fil-A patrons. The Bellevue Chick-fi-A was built in a high-volume traffic area near one of the city’s busiest intersections and a heavily traveled corridor of Interstate 405.
Attempted solutions include:
- Resting on about three-quarters of an acre, the Bellevue Chick-fil-A has 35 parking spots on site. With a need for more parking, the restaurant worked out a deal to lease parking stalls from its neighbor, Coast Hotels, adding 20 parking spots.
- Bellevue off-duty police were hired to support Chick-fil-A traffic, but the solution wasn't sustainable.
- The drive-thru lane was re-striped to be two lanes to fit more vehicles.
- Staff members directed parking lot traffic.
- Chick-fil-A took preorders during peak times for the restaurant.
- Signs were erected to remind drivers not to block the intersection or the crosswalks.
Greece has two drive-thru lanes, and when it's really busy orders are taken outside by staff— a practice that was in full force during the grand opening. Chick-fil-A also leased parking spots at The Mall at Greece Ridge and had local police and volunteers guiding traffic during the initial grand opening rush, but that was temporary.
Bellevue learned from its Chick-fil-A traffic experience and changed how the city looks at traffic volume, circulation and access to better forecast what impact a business could have if it converts from a sit-down restaurant to a drive-thru, Logwood said.
Another Chick-fil-A opened about seven miles north of Bellevue, in Kirkland, Washington, and that seems to have helped divert the customer rush, said Logwood.
It's not just the new locations that get jammed
Chick-fil-A is a staple in the South, but even there traffic can be an issue.
In Lafayette, Louisiana, a restaurant that has been open for almost 21 years, is no stranger to traffic congestion.
According to The Daily Advertiser,traffic from Chick-fil-A's drive-thru regularly spills onto Ambassador Caffery Parkway, which is similar to the West Ridge Road location.
Warren Abadie, the city/parish transportation engineer for the Lafayette Consolidated Government, agreed there is no easy fix.
But Lafayette is still trying. The Ambassador Caffery Parkway location is planning to roll out a payment kiosk and recently paved a back lot for better road access.
In some places opening is easy
Locations where openings went relatively smoothly tended to have ample overflow parking, with room for the drive-thru lane to snake around the restaurant.
In Midlothian, Texas, about 25 miles southwest of Dallas, the Chick-fil-A opening didn't have issues according to Nick Harp, the professional standards commander for the Midlothian Police Department. Midlothian opened on April 12, the same day as Greece.
Police worked with parking lot attendants at the location "within a large commercial development with plenty of overflow parking," Harp said.
Millsboro, Delaware, an oceanside town, is a fraction of the size of Greece. According to the 2010 Census, it had less than 5,000 residents.
A new Chick-fil-A opened on April 5 without many traffic issues. A big difference from Greece: The store is located on a private road with access to two private roads.
“(It has) the most logically laid out parking lot I’ve ever seen,” for a fast food, quick service establishment, said Millsboro Town Manager Sheldon P. Hudson. “From a traffic flow standpoint, it isn’t impacting state or town maintained roads, which is good,” he said.
Prior to the Greece opening, the closest location to Rochester was in Cicero, Onondaga County. It sits in front of a Home Depot.
Bob Smith, the chair of the Cicero Planning Board, said that in his 15 years on the board, he has never gotten more calls of excitement on any town project.
During Cicero's grand opening, it experienced some vehicle backup onto Brewerton Road, a four-lane road in front of the restaurant, but nothing that lingered.
“By the second and third month it calms down,” Smith said. “It has here.”
More Chick-fil-A locations in an area seems to make a difference when it comes to supply and demand.
Greensboro, North Carolina, just opened a new location, but it didn't cause much commotion.
“Ours are all in really well-established shopping center type places,” said Jake Keys , the communications manager for the city of Greensboro.
“It’ll be busy and do great but there’s no like, 'Oh my God, Chick-fil-A’s opening,'” he said.
What would Henrietta do?
Other cities and towns suggest that more franchises could disperse a location's popularity, and it's possible that Monroe County could end up with a second Chick-fil-A.
Chick-fil-A has been looking at locations in Henrietta, likely in the Jefferson Road corridor, according to town officials, though Chick-fil-A spokesperson Brenda Morrowsaid there are no new Rochester area locations to confirm at this time.
If Chick-fil-A ends up in Henrietta, the town will do things differently than Greece did, said Henrietta Town Supervisor Stephen Schultz. It can’t be in a place that would hurt other businesses, impede residents or block roads, he said.
Henrietta has had its share of planning for highly anticipated quick-service restaurants. The town went through the planning process with Mighty Taco's site approval in 2011 and Dairy Queen in 2012.
Drive-thru queues didn’t linger on Jefferson Road because the restaurants were located inside of shopping plazas with large parking lots.
"There's no way I would allow the same thing that's happening in Greece," Schultz said.
Mid-afternoon madness on West Ridge Road
Dave Silloway, owner of Bike Zone, says his business is down because customers are avoiding the traffic caused by Chick-fil-A. Max Schulte and Carlos Ortiz
Neighboring businesses to the right and left of the Greece Chick-fil-A said they've never seen this type of reaction to a new business opening.
Mid-afternoon is the worst time for traffic that impedes their driveways and disrupts customers of places like Julian's Dry Cleaners, Locker Room Sports and Bike Zone.
Bike Zone's Silloway said police had to get involved "due to an interaction with a Chick-fil-A customer that would basically not move his vehicle."
On top of battling parking, "business has been pretty off, (and) when I say pretty, I mean very off," he said.
"First it started out customers saying, 'I wonder how Chick-fil-A will impact your business.' Then it was, 'Wow, that was a really long time to spend in traffic.' Then now its advanced to, 'I'm really upset that I had to spend so long to get here,'" Silloway said.
Now his favorite day of the week is Sunday he said, when Chick-fil-A is closed.
"The local franchisee Alan Taylor is working diligently to manage the flow and ease of traffic," said Chick-fil-A's Morrow in a statement. "Chick-fil-A looks forward to continued growth in the upstate New York market to meet our customer demand."
More: Crazy about Chick-fil-A? Meet the man bringing it to Greece
It would appear that Chick-fil-A anticipated grand opening crowds wouldn't be able to fit in its 1.3-acre plot and 55 parking spaces. Therefore the company reached an agreement with The Mall at Greece Ridge property owners that would allow customers to park in a portion of the mall lot.
Mall spokesperson Melanie Fazio called the agreement "a goodwill gesture." But the agreement expired on April 21, although customers continue to park at the mall and walk across busy West Ridge Road.
Kathy Fay spends a chunk of her shift at Julian's Dry Cleaners dealing with Chick-fil-A traffic too. "I have to stop what I'm doing and go and tell them, 'I'm sorry you can't park here, this is for Jullian's Dry Cleaning only,"' she said.
She was pulling "anywhere from about 15 to 20 cars out of there in a shift," she said.
Before there was Chick-fil-A, homes and a commercial building sat next to the house of Rayleen Bucklin.
The 73-year-old has lived on Standish Road for more than 40 years. But now, the delivery truck lights spill into her windows, and she has to listen to the frequent clanking of garbage collection. She's questioning whether to move.
Behind Chick-fil-A is a "relatively quiet neighborhood," but it's been "chaotic," Greece resident Rob Pierce said standing outside of his home on Standish Road.
"It's much better now though," Pierce said, noting there has been a decrease in the traffic.
"I hope they succeed. If it keeps up like this then they're obviously going to," he said. "I can adapt — it's not the end of the world."
MEFINNERTY@Gannett.com
