The bridge is out

What a brouhaha a closed bridge can cause when it's the only way into town...Seems like there isn't one person who doesn't mind taking a five mile plus detour to get into Mansfield these days, including the residents of Brooklyn Street, a narrow street that turns into Brooklyn Road once it goes into Richmond Township, and a dirt road at that. The bridge is closed to east bound traffic due to rehabilitation work being done by a PennDOT contractor. Though the official detour is Route 15 south to the Canoe Camp exit, most people take the "short cut "over Brooklyn Street to Spencer Road, which comes out near WalMart in Richmond Township.

With people speeding and passing each other on Brooklyn Street, there is a danger to bicyclists and farmers using the road for their activities as well as to law abiding motorists. The speed limit is only 25 mph on that road and people need to abide by it, no matter how upset they are that they have to waste their precious gas going out of their way to get back into town. Join the club, we are all in the same boat until the Route 6 bridge is re-opened.

The business owners are upset because the lack of traffic is causing them to lose business and with the project completion date not till the beginning of August, it looks like some of them may lose even more.

PennDOT is asking people to be patient and in these days of high stress brought on by high and rising gas and food prices, people are understandably upset, so it is hard to be patient, but resorting to breaking the law by trying to sneak cross the bridge on weekends or at night when no one is around is not a good idea. The police, both state and local are keeping an eye on the bridge to ticket those who cross it, and remember fines are doubled in work zones, so it's $240 plus court costs. That could buy a couple tanks of gasline - for now anyway - so maybe those who think they can get away with it should think twice before making a run across the bridge to save gas.

Share:

Facebook  MySpace  Digg  Stumble    Mixx  Fark  del.icio.us   LiveSpaces

 

Member Comments

View Comments: | Post a comment

No comments posted for this article.

You must first login before you can comment.

Existing Member Login
Not a Member?	Create a Member Account
*Your email address:		<--Email REQUIRED!
*Password:	Forgot Password?	<--Password REQUIRED!
	Remember my email address.