OLD FORGE - Orange construction signs straddled each side of the road and an LED sign advised passengers that the bridge located just beyond the righthand bend is closed.
Tucked around the bend - in between the detour and the closed Main Street Bridge in Old Forge - is Jetz Car Wash, a relatively new business that has seen fewer customers since construction on the bridge started in late January.
"We are still a young business, about two years in, and we're trying to gain momentum," said Jack Schieber, the owner of Jetz Car Wash on Main Street. "You want to be focused on other things, like how you can advance the business, but it's hard when something like this really affects the end result."
While contractors continue replacing the decades-old bridge - a process estimated to take a year - Mr. Schieber said he has no choice but to wait and hope customers drive past the bright orange signs and ignore the detour. There isn't much else he can do.
"We're handcuffed," he said.
Mr. Schieber isn't alone. Business owners across the county - and nation - have been forced to deal with an increasing number of road or bridge closures.
In some cases, the closures have cut off key arteries to businesses, diverted traffic and cut the number of potential customers.
"It negatively impacts businesses because it certainly makes it more difficult for customers to get there," said Jeffrey Box, the president and chief executive at Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance. "But it starts with the infrastructure, and we all have to suffer some inconvenience now for the long term benefit.
"If you look at how the country developed, a key factor is the creation of the interstate system, which allowed us to be much more efficient in delivering goods to the market. If we don't maintain what we built, it's going to hurt the economy and businesses everywhere."
Plagued by years of underinvestment, combined with insufficient funding and rising commodity costs, the nation's roads and bridges have substantially deteriorated in the last couple decades.
Lackawanna County is no exception.
Of the county's 412 state-owned bridges, four are closed - tied with Berks County for the second most in the state. Another 12 have posted weight restrictions and another 66 are deemed structurally deficient, showing significant deterioration to decks or other major components.
Meanwhile, five - or 7 percent of the 65 locally-owned bridges 20 feet or longer - are closed, and a combined 32 have weight restrictions or are structurally deficient.
The roads aren't much better.
A 2010 study conducted by TRIP, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., said poor pavement conditions cost drivers in the Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre $1,000 a year in the form of traffic crashes, additional vehicle operating costs and congested-related delays - more than the cost to drivers in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.
The study also suggests that just 13 percent of major roads in the metropolitan area are in good condition.
A target goal is 75 percent.
"Corporations don't locate here because they can't get their goods to the market, without a closed bridge or road in their way," said Tom Lawson of Borton-Lawson Engineering at a Focus 81 meeting in February. "It's just not good for business. It's not good for the local economy."
Since the Main Street Bridge in Moosic closed in April 2011, Jackie Bower's flower shop has suffered.
The co-owner of Bloomin' Idiots Floral and Garden Center, located at 100 Lonesome Road in Old Forge, saw a 45 percent decrease in business in 2011, and a 25 percent dip in sales in 2012 compared to 2010.
To offset the decrease in traffic, Ms. Bower said she has spent more in advertising, including paying for signs to "direct people how to get around the bridge" and to the store.
"It's a major issue and from what I understand, they are going to start working on a small bridge around the corner," she said. "Pretty much the consensus on the road is we are all done - everyone is just like, 'what are we going to do? Can we hold out for another year?'
"Nobody seems to care. They don't care if they are putting people out of work."
PennDOT spokesman James May said the agency is always mindful of how a closure will affect businesses - a point Mr. Box supported - citing the Interstate 81 North Main Avenue project.
Originally, PennDOT officials planned to close both the exit and entrance ramps of I-81 south at North Main Avenue - a move that would have expedited the construction process.
Concerns from local business owners prompted PennDOT to reconsider and ultimately decide to close one ramp at a time, while always maintaining an exit ramp.
"After weighing our options, we realized it would be a great benefit to the local businesses and customers," Mr. May said. "In the end, we want to inconvenience people as little as possible, but we need to fix these bridges and roads and sometimes that requires them to be closed."
Standing in the car wash parking lot, Mr. Schieber could hear the sound of cars humming in the distance.
More often than not, they never visited his shop..
"It's like a ghost town around here," he said.
Contact the writer: miorfino@timesshamrock.com, @miorfinoTT on Twitter