Construction Ahead

Our elected officials in Harrisburg did get a Pennsylvania budget passed and once again it was done in time and without any new taxes.  I will give them credit for that.  However, they failed to do anything to solve or help reduce the state's major pension crisis.  That debt is continuing to tear down the economy of the state and especially schools.  But as Nero fiddled while the city burnt, once again our elected officials did nothing but pass the problem on to the future.  And they also did nothing about a critical transportation bill which would have eased the problem of  our crumbling bridges and roads throughout the state.  But that solution, while desperately needed, would have hit us in our pocket books.  So once again they took the easy way out ... they did nothing.  However, despite their inaction, some road repairs are being made this summer.  In fact, I think all of them must be on roads that I travel.  In the last month, on routes 999 and 741, from Central Manor to Columbia Ave., there have been six construction zones, all with one way traffic.  And generally the lines of traffic have been very long. It is very hard to understand how the flaggers determine when to stop a line and when to allow the other a turn. Maybe because they must stand outside in this hot weather they want motorists to be frustrated and uncomfortable as well. I have been learning many new alternate routes, including going through some neighborhoods that I haven't visited in years.  The big challenge is knowing when they are actually working and stopping traffic and when they are just sitting there on their "extended" breaks.  For example, on 741 it appears that the crews show up at 8 am and then sit around or prepare for the work until about 10 am.  Then they begin to hold up traffic.  And even on days that they don't work, the signs are still posted about one-lane traffic ahead.  So do you gamble and continue on that route, or do you quickly seek an alternate route?  That all adds some spice to summer driving.  We also ran into the joy of road construction when we were in Milwaukee.  And, unfortunately, the GPS in our rented car wasn't ready for it.  While driving to the airport at 4 in the morning we were unable to access the roads to the airport because the GPS didn't recognize the construction and didn't get us in the proper lane.  So, in the early, dark morning hours, without a map, we drove around country roads - with the GPS "recalculating" - and finally we arrived at the airport.  But while road construction is needed and is very expensive, Penndot finds interesting ways to spend our money.  They recently installed a new large exit sign on 222 incorrectly spelling Ephrata - EPHARTA.  I understand that it will cost about $1,000 to correct the spelling.  Since spelling seems to be a lost art, I wonder if their spell-check didn't catch this one.  But my favorite construction story is what we saw today on Manor St.  In fact it so distracted me that I almost ran the red light!  One sign proclaimed an end of construction zone while a second sign right next to it proclaimed construction ahead with one-lane of traffic. The second one was correct. I guess they couldn't make up their mind that day or maybe they bill by the number of signs they post.