Frustrated shop owners in Manasquan say a late-summer construction project is hurting business. The town says it was needed to make room for a much larger project that could also impact the holiday shopping season.

Right outside Main Street shops, construction interrupts what should be a busy late-August summer day.

“There were piles of dirt all over, there was dust all over, you couldn’t put anything out on the sidewalk like we do to attract people to your store,” said John Newman, owner of Bouquets to Remember.

Manasquan is replacing water and sewer lines in anticipation of a new county-funded traffic circle at the intersections of Main, Broad and South streets, scheduled to start in October. But all this work left some store owners hurting.

“Can you put a percentage of how much traffic is down in your store since this started? 40%,” said Carl Mertens, owner of Mertens Jewelers. Other shop owners say their sales are down up to 50%.

All that detoured traffic now flows right into the neighborhoods, where Eileen Flaherty lives.

“What my main concern is, is not just for the vehicles but for the kids who ride their bikes to school on top of all of the traffic with cars, trucks, and very large vehicles.” said Flaherty.

Mayor Michael Mangan wrote a social media post on Aug. 5, when work started, saying delaying the town’s construction on the lines would risk delaying the county's entire schedule, possibly pushing it into 2028.

The owner of Squan Cleaners posted a sign on her window saying they were closed on Friday because of the construction.

At the Weston Gallery next door, owner Kathy’s thoughts now turn to the Christmas shopping season, right in the middle of the construction on the planned circle.

“Yeah no, we can’t lose December. It can’t happen,” she said.

The Monmouth County Commissioners tell News 12 they’ve heard the concerns of the business owners and have asked engineers to look into any potential impacts from pausing work between Thanksgiving and Christmas.