(ABC 6 News) – Concern over a future construction project on Highway 218 is growing at one local restaurant in Lansing Township near Austin, Lansing Corners.

Steve Patterson is one of the restaurant’s owners, and his concerns are at an all time high.

“It can potentially impact us because if the highway becomes closer to our building, it would be tougher to insure, or we can potentially just lose our insurance,” Patterson said. “I would estimate that it would cost us potentially 20-30% of our business, and if that happens we would be forced to close.”

Patterson said with MnDOT potentially closing entrances to the restaurant and expanding the road closer to the building, it could also reduce parking for customers.

“We would lose 10 to 15 parking spots just on the backside,” said Patterson.

A MnDOT spokesperson said the reason the project needs to be done is due to safety.

“There aren’t turn lanes right now, and there are times where if someone’s making a left turn, there in the through lane, and people will pass on the shoulder, and that’s where you have the potential to have those high speed T-bone crashes,” said Mike Dougherty from MnDOT.

A big part of the project – when it begins – will be not only be repaving the highway, but adding those turn lanes to make the flow of traffic smoother.

However, the owners at Lansing Corners think there are better ways to go about the changes.

“If they did a four way stop, or a traffic circle, or traffic lights, or even just lowered the speed, would be potentially safer ways and definitely cheaper ways to handle this project, and it wouldn’t permanently impede our business,” Patterson said.

In response to Lansing Corner’s concerns, MnDOT said it’s been in contact with the restaurant to try and come up with a plan that everyone is happy with.

“We take that to heart, and if there are adjustments that we can make, we are going to go back and look and have those discussions, it doesn’t guarantee things will change, but at least it’s part of the discussion,” said Dougherty.

There was a MnDOT meeting this past Thursday that was open to the public, and MnDOT officials said even though there were concerns from others on top of the Lansing Corner, there were also some that thought the project would make the area safer, and no matter what, they would still find their way to Lansing Corners.