Aug 8, 2016 3 min read

Between the steady supply of road construction and the recent number of accidents I’ve seen, it almost feels like we’re not supposed to be driving anywhere anymore.

Have you been in Eighty Four lately? A section of Route 519 is closed. The detour brings you right into the heart of that double roundabout thing they put in, and once you escape that, your reward is single-lane traffic to Route 136 because of utility work.

A girl can hardly get to work these days.

The other morning, I was in Canonsburg early, then headed with my sister back to the farm. I needed to make one stop – for pet food – at the store where I work. Knowing there would be a rather lengthy detour, we headed out with no target arrival time in mind. Thankfully.

The detour adds several minutes to the drive, but we made it and completed our shopping. We left and drove up Route 136 – which, I believe, is also slated to close for bridge repairs in the near future – and were on our way. We made it only a couple miles when an approaching car began flashing its lights for us to slow down.

Sure enough, a line of cars with brake lights glaring met us around the next bend. During the course of the next 20 minutes, more cars in front of us turned around, going back the way they came. We inched closer and closer to the top of the knoll and finally saw the reason for the backup.

A tractor-trailer carrying an oversized load attempted a right turn onto a side road and didn’t quite make it. The back passenger side wheel went off the berm into a ditch, causing the truck to bottom out. A second truck and trailer, like the first, had no recourse but to pull over and await the outcome of the situation, but being an oversize load as well, it had one lane of traffic at a standstill. By the time we passed, emergency responders arrived and were taking charge.

At this point, we made it approximately eight miles but were on the road for at least an hour. We decided to stop for breakfast, since we weren’t sure how much longer the trip would take. After grabbing food to go, we were headed back to the interstate when the car in the lane next to me attempted to merge into ours. Unfortunately, she didn’t see my car, and I had to swerve and brake to avoid being hit.

We finally arrived and were able to laugh about it all, but it took two hours to make the trip that would normally take about 40 minutes. I was exhausted and hadn’t really even started the day yet!

Trying to get back to her house that afternoon was also tricky. There are several roads in Canonsburg that are closed for repairs, including a couple near her neighborhood. For a girl who suffers panic attacks from getting lost, I’ve hung in there pretty well, I think.

But I might just stay home until road construction season comes to an end.

Laura Zoeller can be reached at zoeller5@verizon.net.