They Could Have Warned Us!

By: Anessa Cohen

One of the long-suffering issues for drivers in these parts are the sudden appearance of road and utility construction crews that cause detours, closed or clogged roads, and other annoying problems, even though the outcome of the finished product will in all likelihood be an improvement on whatever was there before.

Notice that I said “in all likelihood,” since sometimes we sit in crazy gridlocked traffic due to construction crews for weeks, only to go insane when we find out that when it’s finished, there is no visible improvement!

What I fail to understand in our present world of websites and social media is why the highway department or utility companies cannot post in advance either via social media or on some community calendar that the work is going to proceed on certain days, notifying us about the construction schedule as a courtesy to those who need to use the roads, not to mention the nearby houses, so homeowners can decide in advance how to prepare for the additional aggravations that the road crews will no doubt bring.

I can understand why they might not want to send out mailings notifying everyone of pending work, since mailings are time-consuming and costly, but how much effort does it take to post their work schedules on their website, so people can check daily or weekly to see what kind of road work is being scheduled for their neighborhood or surrounding area? This would be a more efficient way for them to lessen the aggravation and gridlock experienced by drivers because of those construction delays, since proper notifications would warn people in advance to prepare for delays in those areas where there are road crews.

For example, a couple of weeks ago, the water company dug a hole that flooded the nearby electric lines (where they apparently never noticed electric lines before they began) and ended up shutting down the water and electricity of everyone on the block (of course, before Shabbos), all while everyone was preparing. Needless to say, total disaster, all because they didn’t check out everything in advance!

The second issue, which for the life of me I do not understand, is why the road construction crews could not have given drivers the courtesy of putting up signs at the beginning of streets that they closed for construction, notifying drivers that those roads were closed! Instead of posting “road closed ahead” at the beginning of at least a dozen streets leading into Central Avenue while they were working, all unsuspecting drivers going down those roads had to make U-turns at the end of the street and crawl their way out to find another avenue to their destination.

Is it too much to ask road construction companies to post temporary signs at the beginning of roads they are closing for construction as a courtesy to local drivers? And shouldn’t the municipality enforce the placing of those signs in order not to create traffic bedlam? A little courtesy goes a long way to those who are being inconvenienced by all the road work, and it would certainly only take a few minutes to post them so people who were unawares can find alternative routes to where they are going.

Definitely more thought is needed on the part of construction companies and utility companies as part of their preparation for work projects on how they can keep the public informed to avoid these unnecessary traffic jams and mayhem. It will also keep the construction phase safer and less inconvenient for the public they claim to serve. 

Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a Licensed Real Estate Broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) with over 20 years of experience offering residential, commercial and management real estate services. You are invited to visit AVCRealty.com. She can be reached at 516-569-5007. Readers are encouraged to send any questions or comments by email to [email protected].