As Mario Reyes looks out the window of his Los Reyes Mexican grocery store on Bothell Way Northeast, he has a bit of sadness in his eyes — but a lot of hope lives inside there, too. He badly wants things to improve for his business during the city’s construction project near his shop.

“I’m losing customers, I’m losing business,” he said. “I have no money to pay my rent. Twelve years we’re here and I’ve never had any problems — until now.

“I need some help from somebody.”

Bothell’s $27 million Wayne Curve Project began about a year ago and aims to relieve congestion on State Route 522 at the 96th Avenue Northeast intersection. It will feature the addition of transit queue lanes in each direction, installation of center medians, asphalt and concrete paving, a new gateway sign and improvements in the Red Brick Road Park area, according to the city’s Web site.

Workers have until the end of the year to complete the job, said Deputy City Manager Steve Anderson, adding that October could be the finish point. But that may be too long for Reyes to hold onto his business, he said, noting that he’s had many returned checks with extra charges from the bank due to insufficient funds; he also has two broken refrigerators he can’t afford to repair. Reyes has asked his landlord to stick with him through the road project.

Sometimes Reyes says trucks block his parking-lot entrance, and he feels that when trucks aren’t there, customers still have a hard time navigating the roadway filled with traffic cones and construction equipment.

“Customers stop coming because they know they can’t go in,” said Reyes, noting that business was solid before the project began.

“It’s tough for him as a specialty market (with items shipped from Mexico),” said John McCullough, who manages Northwest Gold Exchange next door in the same lot, which used to feature a Subway sandwich shop. McCullough’s shop has been in place for a little more than a month and he can’t gauge any business highs and lows in such a short time.

“It is hard to maneuver into the lot,” he said. “One time, we had a car-width dirt path … you had to get up your speed to get through, and I thought I might lose a mirror or two.”

McCullough notes that the road crew has been doing a top-notch job overall. Reyes said whenever he’s asked workers to move their trucks from the lot entrance, they have each time without a problem.

“I’ve asked them when they were going to pour the sidewalk, and they said, ‘On the 23rd,’ and on the 23rd they were here with the cement mixer,” McCullough said.

Rock Roofing is also located in the construction zone on Bothell Way Northeast and owner Scott Fisher said that his business hasn’t been affected since customers don’t visit the shop. As a plus, the slower traffic now gives drivers time to see his sign and maybe think of doing business with him.

At Bothell Way Garage, owner Jared Reidt noted that business is doing well and he feels the Wayne Curve project manager Jason Torrie has been a good liaison between the city and businesses, making sure things are OK with everyone. (Torrie said that he visits with either business owners or on-site coordinators each week, checking to see if business-access signs and cones are placed properly so customers can visit their business of choice.)

“It’s in the name of progress,” said Reidt, adding that it’s hard at times to perform one’s daily activities amid the construction. This week, Reidt said workers were planning on digging up his driveway, but in sections and giving enough room for him and his customers to enter and exit the shop.

Reidt is looking forward to the day that he’ll get “a nice paved lot.”

For Reyes, however, a nice flow of business is needed to keep his shop open. The Mexico City native has been in the United States for 15 years and is married with three children, two of whom are attending college. The Bothell resident’s store features a plentiful array of sauces, pinatas, candies, drinks, soccer jerseys and more.

Bothell’s Diana Ng, an advocate for the Latino and immigrant communities, noted: “Those people need his store, they need his services. (The Reyes family) are ambassadors to the Latino community and they’ve encouraged me to learn more about their heritage.”

Anderson said it was a genuine pleasure for him and Torrie to meet with Reyes and address his concerns last month at the grocery store. One aspect of Bothell’s myriad construction projects that Reyes asked about was why the city can’t pay him to be relocated like some other local businesses. Since Reyes doesn’t own the property, there’s no relocation money, said Anderson, adding that the city bought those other properties, but aren’t doing so in the Wayne Curve case.

One way to help Reyes was when Anderson and Torrie suggested to Ng to look into arranging for some Lake Washington Technical College students to help repair his refrigerators as a class project.

“The city tries to accommodate the businesses as best we can with a capital project like this,” Anderson said about putting up the business-access signs and trying to make paths as clear as possible for customers and business owners. “I know it’s disruptive, and you take today’s economy or the last three years’ economy, and you throw in a construction project and things are dismal.”

With this project, Anderson noted that the city can work with the contractor to keep trucks out of the businesses’ ways, but controlling where Puget Sound Energy, Verizon and other utilities’ trucks park isn’t part of the city’s contract.

In the meantime, the city encourages residents to frequent the businesses in the construction zone.

“We’re trying to manage the contract so there’s the least disruption there possible,” said Anderson, adding that tasks like improving storm drainage and water quality, adding sidewalks and landscaping and more will take place in front of businesses. “At the end of this, it’s going to be a good project and will be beneficial to the businesses.

“I hope that (Reyes’) business will be viable enough that he makes it to the end of the project,” Anderson continued. “It’s a nice little treasure.”