Seemingly at every turn, Scranton is inundated with road construction.
Many of the city's main routes - the Central Scranton Expressway, the McDade Expressway, Interstate 81, Keyser Avenue - and several bridges have construction work scheduled or underway. Main Street in Taylor also is having a bridge replacement.
The inevitable result: traffic jams, delays, knots and tie-ups, motorists said.
Dan Shea, 31, a lifelong city resident who lives in South Scranton and works for the city's Department of Public Works, said of all the road and bridge projects, "I've never seen it like this. I live off Pittston Avenue and to get into downtown, it's more of a headache."
State Department of Transportation spokesman James May said the myriad road projects have all been planned work, except for repairs to the Moosic Street bridge that had its underside clipped by a truck in November.
"It's pretty standard operations," Mr. May said of the work. "Pretty much everything is planned. It's just a huge need for work to be done on roads and bridges in Pennsylvania."
Motorists entering Scranton on the Central Scranton Expressway will have longer commutes through mid-August, as traffic this week was reduced to a single lane on the expressway just before Jefferson Avenue. PennDOT is replacing the deck and some joints and doing some other upgrades on state Route 307 bridge over Roaring Brook.
The nearby Moosic Street bridge over the expressway had already been closed since early November and now a section of the bridge is being replaced. For Moosic Street businesses that saw traffic drop when that bridge was closed, a return to normal traffic patterns can't come soon enough.
"When your traffic is cut in half, when you're talking 10-12 months (for a bridge repair to get done), it's a concern. People go other places," said Joby Baldassari of JB Jewelers on Moosic Street.
Other projects include:
n Utility work involved in a road-widening project on Keyser Avenue has created traffic congestion and noise from construction there. When utility work is done and PennDOT takes over, road work on Keyser Avenue will be done at night, Mr. May said.
n Detours on Interstate 81 ramps that went into effect recently are expected to last through July 1, on ramps from the Casey Highway to I-81 north, and to Dunmore and from I-84 and 380 west to Dunmore.
n The Cedar Avenue ramp to the Central Scranton Expressway was closed this month and will remain closed until July while the Moosic Street Bridge is replaced.
n The McDade Expressway will be a single lane in both directions on the bridge over Main Avenue until June 1.
The impact of such road work is felt farther afield, too, as vehicles back up or seek alternate routes.
Barbara Barrett, president of Nativity Social Club on Front Street near the Moosic Street bridge, said, "I live in South Side. There are traffic jams and cars multiplying constantly down Pittston Avenue."
However, she and another Southsider, Mike Kelly, agreed that road work is necessary and motorists have to deal with it.
"It's going to be a mess, but it has to be done," Ms. Barrett said.
Mr. Kelly, a senior driver for the County of Lackawanna Transit System, likened road construction and its effect on traffic to a home remodeling project.
"If you redo your kitchen, you're going to get some dust in your living room. There's always consequences," Mr. Kelly said.
Mr. May of PennDOT said that so far, the public seems to have been patient with the road construction.
"I think the public is pretty understanding that this is work that needs to be done," Mr. May said. "It's one of those things, we understand if we're out there doing work, people get upset because we're out there doing work. If we're not out there doing work, people get upset because we're not out there doing work. It's the typical conundrum that we face."
Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com