"We don't have lunch crowds anymore," Skylar Gnann, front of house manager at Salem Street Pub, told The News & Observer in September. The pub has temporarily lost the eight outdoor tables that lined its frontage. She also said November and December are the pub's busiest months because downtown events bring people in.
Those two months now fall almost entirely before the street reopens. The holiday calendar lines up with the end of the Salem Streetscape project, so the season will show whether downtown traffic comes back as each side of the street is finished. On the side that is already done, it has not come back much.
How the Schedule Slid Into the Busy Season
The $4.7 million project is meant to make downtown more walkable, with wider sidewalks, lighting, trees and street furniture. Work started in January. Since then, Salem Street between Saunders and Chatham streets has been one-way southbound, while businesses and sidewalks stayed open.
In April, WRAL reported that Mayor Jacques Gilbert said the project was still on track to finish in October, when two-way traffic would return. The town's online project update dated Sept. 1 then listed the construction contract as running January through December 2026. In September, the town told The News & Observer the road should reopen in mid-December, with final cleanup and punch-list work continuing until mid-January.
Amir Nezarati, the town's transportation engineering manager, told the paper the delay came from electrical and lighting revisions. Those included moving power infrastructure, coordinating with street-tree installation and expanding electrical service for future improvements.
As of the Sept. 1 update, the work had split by side of the street:
- East side: underground infrastructure and pavers were finished in mid-July, and southbound traffic moved onto the new east-side lane.
- West side: crews were demolishing and rebuilding, working on underground soil cells and storm drains, with electrical and fiber conduit next.
- Still waiting: light poles and street furniture for the finished east side had not yet been delivered.
- Access: a 5-foot sidewalk path stayed open along the west-side businesses.
Mid-December is the town's target as of that September update. Holiday events start earlier.
Why the Finished Side Didn't Fill Back Up
The east side's pavers went down in July, and Anna's Pizzeria sits on that side. Stephen Perticona, the restaurant's manager, told The News & Observer: "When they finished our side, we didn't really see a bump back in business." Back in April, the restaurant had told WRAL it was tracking a 10% to 20% decline.
Results along the street have been mixed. Virtuoso Jewels told WRAL its business picked back up once construction moved across the street. Here is what merchants reported to The News & Observer in early September, each compared with the same time a year earlier:
Business | Before construction | Early September 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Mission Market | 100 to 120 customer orders on a normal weekday | About 70 to 100; revenue first fell about 50%, now about 20% lower |
Salem Street Pub | Comparable days in 2025 | Daily revenue generally 10% to 30% lower |
Matthew James, co-manager of Mission Market, put the cause in practical terms: "It's just such a hassle to park and walk around the building to get in here to bring your family." That complaint is about access and routine, and new pavers on one side do not change either. It also explains why the holiday events matter so much this year. They are what gets people downtown before the street work is finished.
The Holiday Calendar Runs Down Salem Street
Every big downtown date this season happens on Salem Street or a block away, and all of them come before the mid-December reopening target.
Date | Event | Where | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
Sat., Nov. 28 | Apex businesses | Apex Economic Development is encouraging in-store specials, contests, discounts and events | |
Fri., Dec. 4 | Town Hall, 73 Hunter Street | 4:30 to 7 p.m. | |
Dec. 4 to 13 | Downtown Apex | Listed as all day on the town calendar | |
Sat., Dec. 5 | Ambergate Station and The Peakway, down Salem Street | 5 p.m. start | |
Mid-December | Target for two-way traffic | Salem Street, Saunders to Chatham | Punch list continues to mid-January |
The parade route goes all the way through the project area. It starts at Ambergate Station and The Peakway, heads down Salem Street, turns onto Moore Street and ends at the Apex Public Works buildings on Upchurch Street. The Apex Rotary Club also added a rule this year. Because of "roadway limitations in downtown Apex," every vehicle or trailer in the parade can be no more than 9 feet wide, measured mirror to mirror. A standard midsize pickup is about 6 feet 8 inches wide. Expect a parade built around smaller vehicles.
The Snowman Stroll overlaps both the tree lighting and the parade. In past years it was a scavenger hunt. A printed passport sent people to find snowmen displayed outside participating businesses and collect stickers, with no purchase required. That format sends people door to door along the street, which suits a year when businesses on both sides want walk-in traffic.
Getting In Without the Salem Street Crawl
The bottleneck is the one-way stretch between Saunders and Chatham. A town flyer lists seven public lots spread around downtown, and parking in one lets you walk in instead of creeping down Salem in a line of cars:
- Hunter Street Park
- Town Hall Campus
- Mason Street Municipal Building
- The Depot
- Saunders Lot
- Seaboard Street
- E. Moore Street
On-street parking is also listed on Hunter, Center, Elm, Chatham, Seaboard and E. Moore streets, as well as Salem itself. On tree lighting night, the Town Hall Campus and Hunter Street Park lots are closest to 73 Hunter Street. The Apex Parking App shows real-time downtown parking availability and links to an interactive map.
If you ride the bus, GoApex Route 1 has been on a detour since Jan. 27. According to the town's transit notice, the detour is expected to last until late 2026 and skips nine regular stops, including ones on North and South Salem Street, Apex Peakway, Laura Duncan Road and Hunter Street. These temporary stops serve downtown in the meantime:
- Hunter Street near Metro Station
- North Salem Street at Center Street
- South Salem Street at Moore Street
- Hughes Street at Williams Street
- Chatham Street at Mason Street
What December's Reopening Will and Won't Settle
When traffic goes back to two-way, the street will look different, and some storefronts will have changed too. Two Salem Street businesses that were open when construction began will be gone when it ends. Alleyway Bookstore closed over the summer, citing a rent increase, and The Perky Lady was scheduled to close Oct. 15. The News & Observer reported that neither named the streetscape project as the main reason.
The rest of the street has spent most of a year waiting for the work to finish. WRAL reported that the town has put up signs encouraging people to support local businesses and keeps pointing visitors to its parking map and app. Two-way traffic is targeted for mid-December, with punch-list work into January. Small Business Saturday on Nov. 28 and the parade on Dec. 5 both come first, and they are the dates Salem Street Pub counts on for its busiest stretch.
Tana Widdows follows downtown Apex closely, from the streetscape schedule to the businesses working through it. If you'd like help understanding how projects like this one shape the blocks around Salem Street, Tana Widdows is happy to talk it through over coffee downtown. Let's Connect.
