Fort Bragg gate closures cause Spring Lake businesses to take a hit

SPRING LAKE, N.C. (WTVD) -- William Bryant spent Thursday evening taking orders at his fast-food restaurant Saucy Wings.

It's a typical shift for the general manager who told ABC11 nowadays lunch isn't as busy anymore.

"We just got finished with the government shutdown and now the gate is shut down. We kind of got hit twice," said Bryant. "It takes soldiers roughly about 45 minutes to an hour to get back on base and some folks don't want to go through that."

Fort Bragg announced a change in hours at several of its access control points. The change means its Butner and Manchester gates, which lead to several Spring Lake businesses, are shut down during lunch.

"We're going to lose businesses. We cannot sustain businesses, especially our restaurants, with the gates being closed," said Spring Lake Town Manager Daniel Gerald. "It's now almost a ghost town."

Fort Bragg released the following statement:

"The changes to Fort Bragg's access control points are intended to increase mission and Soldier readiness," said Adam Luther, Fort Bragg spokesman. "This will allow our Soldiers to hone their skills for training and real-world deployments."