No one likes road construction; it's one of the few traits we all share as humans. It's an annoyance because it comes up on us without warning, wastes our time, and seems to go on forever. Knowing that we want better, wider, smoother roads doesn't help make it better until it's done and gone.

Having just driven across the Eastern half of the country, I feel completely justified in saying that the state of Pennsylvania is JUST DOING IT WRONG.

Find out why...

Follow up:

Road construction is fairly generic in the sense that we generally know just what to expect. We see the ubiquitous orange signs. We have to slow down. Traffic backs up, lanes shift and merge, then we're done, accelerating back to fast wind in our hair goodness with the radio blasting "Radar Love".

"I’ve been drivin‘ all night my hand’s wet on the wheel
There’s a voice in my head that drives my heel
And my baby calls that she needs me here
It’s half past four and I’m shifting gear"

How many speeding tickets is this song alone responsible for? But I digress. Construction is a pretty typical thing and we generally know how to handle it. Not so, Pennsylvania.

Someone, somewhere in the Department of Transportation in the massive state of Pennsylvania decided that construction was much, much more important than just a simple delay to give a road crew some space. Road construction had to be epic. Take every concept and idea you may have had about how to run a construction zone and stream it into the realm of Battlestar Galactica. Road construction for a new era, for the 21st century!

Imagine for instance, that you get a call that there is fallen rock debris on Route 76, around Lancaster, mile marker 282. You don't just send out a utility truck with a couple guys with shovels, oh no! Fallen rocks are serious business now. You mobilize an advance survey team that determines, yes, there are rocks which are precariously close to the travelled lanes of I-76. This report then sets into action the Pennsylvania DOT master road hazard planning team who meet several times over the course of the month, scheduling, planning, and mobilizing resources to counter the fallen rock threat.

After their planning is complete, the schedule approved, PennDOT teams are sent forth. The first team brings orange barrels and cones, banner and signs. Not to be dissuaded by the fallen rock threat, they set up a command headquarters a respectful distance away, say, 8 miles south of the rock slide. Barrels and cones are carefully placed, cutting off a lane of traffic from the command post to the rock incident. Signs are set up miles in advance to warn drivers of the impending lane restriction, alerting us all to slow down to 45 miles an hour in preparation of the coming lane shift. Electronic speed displays are programmed to flash wildly as we approach the dangerous lane shift, warning us that we are all going TOO FAST for a safe traversal of the hazards.

Finally, the barrel and cone team reaches the fallen rock site itself, positioning Jersey blocks to ensure the safety of the soon to be in place rock removal team. The hazard zone is extended another mile past the Jersey blocks so that drivers will have the necessary time to return to a non-construction zone mode of conduct.

And this is just the advance team. Now that the site is prepped, actual rock hazard removal teams must now be scheduled to come and do their jobs. Rock removal, pothole patching, bridge maintenance, guard rail reflectors gone astray: it all requires careful planning and safety management.

Now I'm a careful driver. I take construction site safety very seriously, probably more seriously than most people. I'm one of those jackass drivers that slows down to the posted safe speed and moves over for workers wearing orange vests. I wave in thanks when a flagman sends me on my way. But the system in Pennsylvania serves to mock the process of give and take between drivers and the crews that maintain our roads.

Construction zones are set up and no one's there. They span miles and miles of highway with no purpose. We slow down, watching carefully for signs of work crews, drive for miles, then suddenly, after 15 minutes of pointlessly slow and careful driving, we're back at 65MPH wondering how we let them fool us each time.

On one particular construction zone I passed, we were forced down to 1 lane for miles, only to come upon a team of 4 men examining an overpass. We wind up feeling like idiots for taking any of your construction zones seriously when you don't give us the same respect in return.

Planting fraudulent, inactive construction zones slowly saps the resolve of drivers to take active zones seriously. Blocking 10 miles of road for a guard rail reflector repair is disingenuous and counterproductive. Sending state police patrols to sit in inactive reduced speed zones does nothing but send the message that the entire work zone thing is nothing but a desperate speed trap revenue ploy.

Well I've driven through rural PA enough to know that I can't take construction zones seriously. I'm tired of being fooled and suckered in for double fine traffic fines. If Pennsylvania wants to protect the safety of its construction crews it needs to start taking construction zones seriously while respecting the drivers who are paying tolls for the use of the roads.

I propose that the movers and shakers in PennDOT take a drive through Ohio or Indiana. They have construction too but they handle it in a way that leaves both the crews safe and the drivers feeling as if an effort was made to show a modicum of respect to the value of our time.

In short: set up your barrels, cones and Jersey blocks, but really, a mile advance notice is quite enough for me to slow from 65 to 45. It only takes a friendly tap on my brake pedal after all. If the zone is inactive, cover the signs and stop sending cops to patrol it.

Be respectful of the drivers that pay for your roadwork and we'll happily return the favor to your work crews.