SHOREWOOD - You paid for it! This is one of those stories where you don't know what to do except shake your head.

The Village of Shorewood is spending millions to give its main drag a face-lift. Despite months of traffic tie-ups and the seven-figure price tag, for the most part, the folks in Shorewood see the Oakland Avenue Streetscape Project as a good thing. Kahri Stowers works at Goldi's.

"It did make it look a lot nicer. We'll see what happens, if it's worth it," she says.

They'll see whether or not the new fancy sidewalks, streetlights and pricey tree planters actually bring in more business. Village Manager Chris Swartz supports the project.

"We think that in the long run it's going to be the best for everybody," Swartz explains.

But once all the work crews' traffic barrels are gone, shoppers may have another annoyance to deal with -- dozens of tree planters built right up to the curb. Several are in front of Tim Wick's liquor store. TODAY'S TMJ4's Aaron Diamant asked him about the new look.

Diamant: "Considering what they paid for this, this seems like a pretty significant detail that was overlooked."

Wick: "Yeah, it's not going to be easy to snow shovel around this. Cars are going to hit their doors on it. It's just not practical."

It's happening on a street where parking is at a premium.

"It's beautiful. I mean, aesthetically it's really nice, but it could be a concern if your car is low," Stowers worries.

Here's the problem. When the street finally opens back up and you can start parking on it again, the planters are sticking out so close to the curb, you can't open your car door.

Swartz admits there is concern by the village staff. But...village crews continue to build the planters.

"We felt it was better to keep on installing them and see if it is a problem, and we have some ideas on how me may address it," he explains.

Everything from re-striping the road to ripping these things out and moving them back at taxpayer expense. Meanwhile, local business owners are taking it in stride.

"I had no idea that this was going to be the outcome of it. It just seems kind of funny," Wick says.

"You look at the details and you say, 'I wish I would have done this,' but you really can't look at a job in hindsight. It will drive you crazy and you'll never go forward," Swartz says.

Village leaders should get an idea how big an impact the tree boxes will have on parking pretty soon. Construction on Oakland Avenue will wrap up in the next week or so.