Stooge's owner Debbie Self said she is trying to move forward since the bar closed last month. She is spending more time at horse races to support her racehorse Super Corredoro. (Giselle Rhoden / LPM)On Nov. 4, 2025, a UPS cargo plane, Flight 2976, crashed near an industrial area off Grade Lane in South Louisville, ultimately killing 15 people. The plane had just left the UPS Worldport at Louisville's Muhammad Ali International Airport and was headed for Honolulu, Hawaii.Within minutes, 220,000 pounds of jet fuel caught fire, and plumes of smoke engulfed nearby businesses just past the airport runway. Most businesses in the debris field are auto repair shops, recycling facilities and warehouses.The National Transportation Safety Board investigation is ongoing and the area near the crash site in South Louisville has yet to fully recover. For some local business owners, one of the biggest hurdles is that a portion of Grade Lane is still closed. They said the crash still affects them financially and physically, and they are tired of waiting for answers from the city.Trapped behind a closed roadKentucky Truck Parts and Service opened a month before the plane crashed. The repair shop on Knopp Avenue is less than half a mile from the airport runway and next door to the crash site.“As soon as we walked out, I see a bunch of flames and tires popping and diesel tanks flying from the other semi trucks because it was a semi parking lot around here,” said owner Sabit Aliyev, recounting the aftermath of the crash.Aliyev and his crew were trapped on the property for two hours until police arrived.He wasn’t allowed back into his shop until a month later. By then, Aliyev said, raccoons had trashed the place and he noticed some structural damages.“This building is a little crooked too,” Aliyev said, sitting in the garage. “If you go outside, you can see the wall that's bent.”On a recent afternoon, Aliyev pointed toward a far corner, where a large crack splits white-painted bricks near the top of the garage door.He and his business partner hadn’t gotten insurance for the property before the crash, leaving them responsible for the bulk of the repair costs.Aliyev also needs another knee surgery because he got injured while escaping the crash’s debris field, he said. He had recently recovered from ACL surgery.“I cannot do surgery. I cannot be disabled for so long,” he said.Despite working nearly every day at the shop, business has slowed and new customers are scarce since the crash and the partial road closure at Grade Lane, Aliyev said.He fell behind on his home’s mortgage, and he said he only caught up last month. He was afraid to tell his wife and three daughters how much he struggled when their power at home shut off twice, he said.“I sacrifice everything to just start business with my buddy,” Aliyev said.According to published plans, Louisville Metro Public Works said the portion of Grade Lane between Melton Avenue and Crittenden Drive will reopen by the end of the year, once the Louisville Water Company replaces the water main. But Aliyev is less than hopeful.“After the crash, [the city said] after two months we will be open. After two weeks we will be open. After three days we will be open,” he said.Aliyev received a check from the city to cover his utility bills, but he said he doesn’t want financial assistance anymore: He wants the road to reopen.‘UPS lost one day. I lost everything’Less than a block away, a vacant Stooges Bar and Grill faces Grade Lane. The bar was a hub for UPS and Ford employees and airport staff, according to owner Debbie Self.“It's just been a place where everybody knew each other too,” Self said. “I'm missing all the people I used to come out here and sit down and shoot the crap with.”The plane crashed about 100 yards from Stooges, and the bar never reopened.Factory employees and airport staff told Self that getting to the bar after a shift is nearly impossible with the road closure, she said. Last month, Self announced she was closing for good after 44 years in business.On the day of the crash, her staff, like Aliyev’s, was forced to leave. Police allowed Self back in three weeks later, and everything was in disarray.“God, it was awful because the lights were turned off. The power was cut,” Self said. “My generator did kick in. Then they cut the gas, so I didn't have anything to run my coolers, and the stench in this building was horrible.”The food spoiled, the utility bills piled up and her employees had to find other jobs. Insurance was able to pay to repair the bar’s structural damages, but Self estimated she lost about $4 million in revenue since the crash.“I'm not going to sit and spend every nickel I've saved. It's just not fair to me, and I'm angry over it,” she said. “And UPS loses one day, and they're investing billions.”After cleaning up the mess, Self said she contracted hepatitis A, a liver infection that can come from contact with contaminated foods and drinks.“I was pretty sick for a while,” Self said. She attributes that and subsequent health issues to stress.Eleven days after the crash, Louisville Metro Emergency Services coordinated a community resource center for residents and businesses in the area. A spokesperson for UPS says the city, the company and the Small Business Administration provided financial and mental health resources.At the time, a spokesperson with Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg’s office said more than 300 people attended the resource center until it closed a month after the crash.Self said she went twice to ask for financial assistance on her utilities, and never heard back.“No matter what I do, it comes back on my pocketbook. Not UPS, mine,” Self said. “I'm just so done.”Louisville Metro Council member Dan Seum Jr. serves District 13, which includes Grade Lane and the crash site.“It's hard to navigate through the emotions, the frustration and reality for these folks because they are so invested in this,” Seum said. “But I'll tell you, there's not been a day go by that Metro is not working on Grade Lane.”Seum said the Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District told him sewer, water and gas lines were severely damaged when the plane crashed.MSD did not respond to a request for comment.“It almost was condemned,” Seum said of the closed portion of Grade Lane. “They even contemplated not building anything, not restoring because of all the damage and the environmental issues. But they mitigated all that, and they're getting to an end time here, and we're hoping it's sooner than later.”Self said she wants the city to be more forthcoming about the road closure.“I mean, I've shed a lot of tears over this because I've lost my life basically,” she said. “I've lost everything. Am I broke? No, I'm not broke, but I shouldn't have to be broke for people to hear us.”Although they don’t know each other, Aliyev and Self share similar grievances. They’re frustrated with the city’s efforts, tired of waiting for an answer and trying to move forward. ...read more read less