Above Salem Street, a sign welcomes visitors: “Downtown Apex is open for business!”
Below it, excavators tear into one side of the street while the afternoon sun beats down on the other. Between them, cars creep single file along the one-way street.
“We don’t have lunch crowds anymore,” said Skylar Gnann, front of house manager at Salem Street Pub, which has temporarily lost use of eight outdoor tables that once lined its frontage…