Key findings
- Not all businesses (from our limited sample) experienced a negative impact during the temporary road closure
- Businesses within certain industries that rely heavily on visitors/customers within a ten-mile radius tended to experience larger declines in visits during the closure.
- Businesses drawing visitors/customers from a wider geographic area saw lower negative effects.
- For example, auto garages with more local visits saw larger declines, while the garage drawing fewer local visits saw an increase.
- Negative short-term impacts will trend towards zero as time goes on.
- Businesses that have a loyal local customer base and businesses whose products are hard to substitute with products of other businesses in the area. Customers will find alternative routes to the business, either out of loyalty or necessity.
- During a temporary road closure a customer may delay routine maintenance on their car until after the road closure.
- Short-term and long-term impacts of a road closure may differ.
- Those who trust a business, such as a garage, will find another route to it.,
- While those who see the services provided by the business as ones that another business can do may find a more convenient business.
About the report
In mid-2025, the Benton Economic Partnership, Inc. asked Extension to help understand how the planned permanent closure of the St. Germain Street and Highway 10 intersection in St. Cloud, Minnesota, might affect nearby businesses. To begin answering that question, we analyzed past visitation patterns using mobile analytics data gathered by the Placer AI platform.
By comparing business traffic during a previous road closure at this intersection in 2024 with the same weeks in 2023 and 2025 combined (years without road closures), we were able to estimate how customer visitation might change if/when the planned closure takes place. In this summary of the analysis, we will explain our approach. We illustrate the approach using a restaurant as an example.
Reviewed in 2026