‘Took me 2 hours to go 4 miles,’ cries driver after construction project puts city’s commuters between rock & hard place | 92I449I | 2024-04-29 12:08:01
'Took me 2 hours to go 4 miles,' cries driver after construction project puts city's commuters between rock & hard place | 92I449I | 2024-04-29 12:08:01
A CONSTRUCTION project in a growing town was scheduled to modernize an important stretch of road – but drivers complained that the work made them late.
Drivers in Palmetto, Florida said that construction projects on US 41 turned the highway into a parking lot.
"Took me two hours Thursday to get from here to Manatee. It's four miles," a resident, Sherry Batye, told local ABC affiliate WFTS in March.
"The bridges are terrible, and you've got to get over them."
US Highway 41 runs 479 miles in Florida between the border to Georgia and Miami.
The highway artery typically carries between four to six lanes of traffic, depending on the region.
Restaurant owners who operate near the road said the construction delays were bad for business.
"We lost big-time business because nobody wanted to come out," Ismail Ilhan, the owner of a local restaurant, Burger & Pancake House said to the station at the time.
"Nobody wanted to come out because it's going to take them hours to get here and hours to go back."
Construction backed cars up so much that it started to impact other highway arteries, the site reported.
Traffic could be spotted on nearby US 301, as drivers tried to rush into the construction-stricken lanes.
"They are trying to build more community around here," Ilhan added.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> "More community means more people, more vehicles, but I don't see they are creating alternative roads going across from the river."
The Florida Department of Transportation said that the backup was due to several construction projects being completed around the same time.
In a statement to the site, they said the projects had all been completed by April.
CONSTRICTING CONSTRUCTION
Drivers across the state complained after other roadway projects backed up hours of traffic.
"I only went a block and a half from my house and it was gridlocked in both directions," a driver on Rickenbacker Causeway told NBC affiliate WTVJ.
Traffic was backed up near the bridge for hours as crews restored weathered concrete.
"It took five, about five and a half hours," Gabrielle Marin, another Florida native said.
"For me, I'm healthy and fine, but for someone with kids or any medical condition, it would be very difficult for them to deal with that traffic."
The state's Department of Transportation released a statement about the community's traffic issues.
"The Department has heard and understands the community's concerns and, based on the feedback we've received, has taken prompt action," a spokesperson for FDOT wrote.
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