BILLINGS — Foxtail Village is typically a quiet neighborhood off of 60th Street West and Grand Avenue, but for the last week, hundreds of cars have been driving through the streets and residents are growing frustrated.
Construction to add a new water main has shut down a portion of 58th Street West, the road that Grandpa's Farm corn maze is on. Drivers can still get to the corn maze, but they need to take Rimrock Road to get there, instead of using Grand Avenue.
But many drivers seem to be ignoring the signs that tell them the correct way to go and instead are trying to drive through the Foxtail Village neighborhood.
“People have been driving around trying to look for a spot to go to Grandpa's farm even though there's plenty of road closed signs showing that they can't get there,” said Autumn Gerber, who lives in the area. “People have been trying to back out of their driveways, and then there's people turning around and then they just kind of almost back into each other.”
On Saturday night, residents in the area believe they had over 100 cars going into their neighborhood, trying to get to the corn maze.
“There's a sign at 58th that says, "Go to Rimrock." And they don't go to Rimrock. They go to 60th instead and think they can get there,” Bryan Meyers, another resident of the neighborhood, said. “My wife was out watching the moonrise last week and she almost got hit by a car driving on the sidewalk.”
Residents told MTN News that cars have been ignoring the signs, driving on sidewalks, into yards and even trying to move construction material to get to 58th Street West.
“It's pretty evident that things are supposed to be closed here,” neighborhood resident Jake Penwell said. “The corn maze is fantastic. We love having them here. Having that in your backyard, essentially, is such a blessing. So, we really do like it and we love that all of Billings is excited about it, just need to hopefully be respectful of people that live here.”
Grandpa's Farm has posted on Facebook letting people know of the route to take to get to them.
An additional handmade sign has been added to the intersection of 60th Street West and Grand Avenue letting drivers know they cannot access the corn maze from there.
"There is no outlet out of here other than where you come in. So we hope that the signage that's been put up will help that," the Foxtail Village homeowners association president Bob Turnquist said. "Slow down. We have kids in this neighborhood. We have a lot of older people. Our neighborhood is mostly older people in their 80s. And they walk and they drive. Just be careful."
Road signs on Grand Avenue and Rimrock Road said that construction will be complete on Nov. 22.
