BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Construction on Stockdale Highway is making business owners angry.

Eyewitness News spoke with 15 local businesses along the 1-mile stretch of the construction zone. They all say their business has gone down.

Ty Elbert, the owner of Ellis Island Pizza, says their lunch business has seen a decrease of at lease 75 percent. Sundance Tanning has seen about the same, and Steve Houston, owner of Houston Jewelers, says "the foot traffic is almost nonexistent at this time."

Elbert and Houston say they are upset because the city never notified them about the construction.

"Give us the courtesy of saying, 'Hey, we're going to do some construction,'"says Elbert.

Houston says he "can't imagine how the city of Bakersfield, whoever makes these decisions, would have this project done during the holiday season."

Eyewitness News asked the city that very question. The city told us that Griffith Construction, the company contracted to do the job, was responsible for giving out notifications to every business owner in the area, and it was stated in their contract they do so. We asked the city to double check if that had in fact happened.

After some phone calls, the city found out those notifications were never sent out.