When my husband and I moved from Cincinnati to Northeastern
Pennsylvania, one of the first things we heard from locals was how much the
state/county/municipalities needed to address the many problems with the
infrastructure. Somehow or the other, PA State Route 611 had to be widened to
four lanes. Nobody could suggest exactly how that might happen, but everybody
agreed it was going to become a “real problem.” That was in 1971.
Pennsylvania is an old state (one of the original thirteen,
I believe) and a good many of the roads started life as Indian trails (with
apologies to my native American ancestors and friends, but that was the
expression). And gradually rocks were used to cover the rutted trails and
eventually, pavement. Most of the time, it seems that all the twists and turns that
were originally there remained.
Driving around in my county it’s difficult to get really
lost, because no matter where you are sooner or later you’re going to cross
another of those trails and get your bearings. Great if you’re on foot or
horseback, not so much when traveling by car.
Over time (and a lot of this has happened in the 46 years I’ve
lived here) commercial establishments began to appear on some of the major
byways, notably state routes 611 and 209. I’m sure there are a good many more,
but those are the ones I deal with on a daily basis. And the Pennsylvania
Department of Transportation (PennDot for short), in its infinite wisdom,
widened sections of Rte. 611, the most commercially-developed road in our area,
to accommodate the ever-increasing traffic. Not the entire length of the highway,
or even those sections where businesses continued to multiply. Just here and
there. A few hundred yards at a time.
Imagine the resulting bottlenecks, if you can. And the cars barreling
south on 611 in the right-hand lane which abruptly ended. It’s a miracle
there haven’t been numerous multiple-vehicle accidents, but us locals know what
to expect and are patient and kind with the folks from New York, New Jersey, and
other parts of the state of Pennsylvania who don’t understand how things work in this neck of
the woods.
One of the worst of these is on Rte. 611 very near the
circle where I live, and one major problem is at an intersection with a road, Bridge Street,which connects 611 and 209 (the other major artery through our area). There actually IS a bridge on the street and PennDot was forced to
close the road and repair the bridge, creating a major headache because the
road was now one way. You could get from 209 to 611 but not vice versa. Except via a detour.
It was a lengthy detour. What worsened the problem was
that below Bridge Street on 611 is a long stretch of mostly retail businesses
and food establishments: the biggest mall in the area and many other stores and establishments grouped
together with some common parking areas. So driving through that area is slow:
a number of traffic lights and always heavy traffic.
The result is that many of us have been dealing with the No Right Turn Onto Bridge Street situation
for what seems like eons. At times I would drive north on Bridge Street to try
to see exactly what kind of progress was being made. It was hard to tell, and I
don’t mean to be unkind, but mostly I saw groups of PennDot people gathered
around a piece of equipment having some kind of conference, while others seemed
to be wandering around. I’m sure that wasn’t always the case. It’s just what I
seemed to always observe.
When the crane that had been on the site for millennia
actually came down I had a sense of hope. And lo and behold, a few days ago …
December 21 to be exact … PennDot gave us a Christmas present. Well, kind of.
Traffic was open both ways on Bridge Street … but the turning lanes which we
all fervently hope will help ease the nasty traffic backups above Bridge Street
aren’t open yet. Maybe an Easter present?
I posted on Facebook when I got home after seeing that the
southbound side of Bridge Street was actually being used, and had some great
responses. It has seemed like forever, but the detour actually was only in
force for about eighteen months. Lots of “OMG … I thought that was NEVER going
to happen!” My favorite from an artist friend, Will Rothfuss, who gave me
permission to quote him: “I don't
believe it! In the meantime, while they were working on that, the pyramids were
built.”
The infrastructure in our little corner of the world in the
Poconos. Still working on the Rte. 611-Bridge Street problem, 46 years later.
PennDot doesn’t like to rush things.
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