Construction is serious business in Sussex County

It seems like there isn’t a road that isn’t under construction in Sussex County, or any other county on the eastern seaboard. The last couple of weeks, I’ve driven through so many construction zones around here, I actually qualified for my own union card and was able to buy a yellow construction hat at half price. If you have one of these items, you can drive right though most medians.

Last week I was on the New Jersey Turnpike, which has undergone a major revamping. And it is a good thing, putting a lot of jobs on the forefront, and making travel faster, which is our main goal - to get somewhere quickly, even if we forget why.

But New Jersey has instituted express lanes in the middle of the Turnpike that are just for cars, and a separate one that only allows trucks. Great idea, until you realize the exits are somewhere under an overpass that you blew by an hour ago. Still it’s an effort to keep those dollars and jobs flowing, especially the tire nail removal business.

Now the detours around the mazes still under construction were more of a problem. In fact, I understood the different tribes, regions and policies in the Middle East better than I did the directions on how to get around the construction sites. The whole place looked like a replica of a bombed out province in a combat zone anyway. If you follow the detour signs you will eventually pass open ended farm land, cows, noise barriers and possibly a communist country. They rarely make sense because they often give the driver a choice, and most of us do poorly in multiple choice tests.

Around here, I’m not sure what the official plan is though. It’s close to tax season, so it may be why most residents don’t know what is going on; they are busy packing suitcase to leave the country for tax haven places like the Cayman Islands and Switzerland.

Personally, I’ve never seen so many orange cones except outside of a hair salon convention that is promoting a new color called Orange Kiss. Either that or there are a lot of people trying out for the Secret Service. The Secret Service has a long waiting list for applicants, so it’s a good idea to practice on these orange cones.

I did notice what appeared to be a sidewalk being built on Route One. This will accommodate the two people who will use it during the summer. Pols do show though that most shoppers prefer to race across four lanes of busy traffic, especially if they are pushing a baby carriage.

I know that DelDOT has been busy working major, major projects and then there is the redoing of those same major, major projects that were miscalculated in the first place. It’s time consuming, no doubt.

In the meantime, a lot of county residents are on the phone trying to explain to DelDOT that there is a pothole the size of an aircraft carrier on their street and they can’t stay on the line too long because the water outside the drive is up to their knees, and they are really frightened of something they read in high school about water and electrical shock. It’s just that the standing water on the street has been there since Lord Baltimore wanted to annex colonial Delaware into Maryland, but then changed his mind after a drone sent back photos of a great many colonists with wet pants.

Construction is serious business, and there is a short window of opportunity before tourists descend and the road repairs, weather, detours and the line at a coffee drive-through add to the problems. I agree it’s outrageous for a line outside a coffee shop. Maybe it is time for the driverless car. Good luck this spring with your axles, shock absorbers and kidneys.