HAMBURG, N.Y. -- For business owners along Route 5 in Hamburg, like Edward Hoak, high winds and waves on Lake Erie can be a major issue.
"Our cellar, an eight-foot high cellar was filled with water twice so you lose that product and all that supplies and business. Let's build a wall," said Hoak, Hoak's Lakeshore Restaurant.
The barrier that protects the road is nearly 100 years old, it's cracked and in some places collapsed — that allows water to flood the street when waves crash against the eroding concrete.
Sen. Charles Schumer called on the Army Corps of Engineers Thursday to make modifying the wall a priority.
A plan is already in place to add a 1,300-foot embankment and splash apron to help ease flooding.
"The wall would serve as an improved safety barrier and protect the roadway against the dangerously high water levels that we're seeing, it will be newer, safer and more durable," Schumer (D) said.
Schumer says the Army Corps already has the money for the project and it's just a matter of making Route 5 a priority.
And residents like Hoak are concerned what might happen if it isn't.
"There's going to be a slice of this wall that's going to cave in and then it's goodbye Route 5," said Hoak. "That's a major problem, it won't be closed overnight, it will be closed a long time."
Schumer says if the project is included in the Corps budget, there isn't any reason it can't be finished by next summer.