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Watching lots and lots of vehicles drive along the stretch of roadway that fronts his used car dealership will be even more pleasing to the owner of K Town Motors.

"In this business in particular, we rely on traffic moving past the lot to bring people in the door," Gelinas said. "Selling vehicles is a numbers game Ð the more people you have an opportunity to talk with, the greater chance you have of making a sale."

Hopefully, he'll be talking with lots of prospective buyers by the end of this week. That's the target date for completion of Phase 1 of the US-131 construction project.

"We're continuing to move along, and should have Phase 1 completely finished by this weekend,"

Michigan Department of Transportation engineer Judy Browning who is the head construction engineer for the massive $8.5 million road project that extends north from M-72/ County Road 621 in Kalkaska to Elder Road, just south of Mancelona.

That date can't come soon enough for Gelinas and other business owners along US-131 who have experienced significant revenue losses this summer, due partially to the roadwork.

"Car sales are down general, but the road construction certainly has had a huge impact on the business here,"

Gelinas said about the K Town Motors site that's located just north of the M-72 intersection. "Last year, I was moving 17 to 20 cars a month on the lot Ð this summer, it's been around seven or eight.

"Even though the whole stretch of US-131 won't be open until later this fall, just having Phase 1 done and open will be helpful for businesses on this end of the project."

Phase 1 of the project includes US-131 north from M-72/CR 612 to Twin Lake Road. Preliminary work is in progress on Phase 2 that runs from Twin Lake Road north to Elder Road near Mancelona.

Count Road 571 will continue to be used as the north-south roadway throughout Phase 2, with Elder Road as the crossover, east-west link to US-131.

The entire 11.29-mile project remains on target for completion in November.

Gelinas has a shorter timeframe in mind, however.

"We're still hoping to get some summer traffic to stop and check out vehicles on the lot," he said.

That optimistic attitude is helping K Town Motors remain competitive in its first year.

Gelinas opened the business in 2006, after having worked in auto sales for 15 years.

"Opening this used car dealership was the next, natural step for me," the Kalkaska resident said, adding that he tries to keep about 25 vehicles on the lot at all times. "With fuel prices so high, people are looking for gas-saving vehicles that get good mileage."

The completion of Phase 1 this week should bring more of those potential buyers into K Town Motors.

"It will be great to get things back to normal when construction is done on the road," Gelinas said. "You just have to stay positive Ð and be ready to talk with people when they stop in."

K Town Motors is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday; 9 to 4, Saturday. For information, call 231-258-2430.