Commuters Slog Through First Days of Bridge Closure

Everybody said it would be bad, and the first couple days of the Valley Forge Road Bridge closure on Route 23 have proven them right.

Commenters on various social media sites described excruciatingly long traffic backups along the posted detour routes, especially Whitehorse Road and Valley Park Road.

“Finally at work,” tweeted user Sarah Peppel Tuesday morning. “20 min commute was 1 hr and 40 min today.”

The traffic jams, combined with heavy downpours Monday morning and a tornado watch in the evening was enough to turn the Phoenixville’s Office of Emergency Management’s normally off-kilter Facebook page extra punchy, as a comment from a user warning of velociraptors on Valley Park Road turned into an ongoing joke for the rest of the day.

WOW! What a day! Epic traffic, road closures, rain, Tornado Warnings, Velociraptors. We didn’t see any locusts or frogs, but the Wawa in Malvern was closed. Things nearly got Biblical. But we made it. Tomorrow is here today and we’re all OK. (What?). As you all already know, the traffic situation is bad. Reports directly from the Velociraptor in the field.

The page also took a moment to put the traffic nightmare into some perspective, advising motorists that the beginning will be tough to handle, but travel should become easier as drivers find their own alternate routes.

This is a huge inconvenience, and everyone has a right to be upset. It sucks, we know. We’re all affected. But here’s the thing, probably a good 95 percent of you have the option of setting your alarm earlier and leaving your house earlier, even if you don’t really want to. Let’s talk real inconvenience: Cops, fire, EMS - they don’t have the luxury of knowing when and where their next emergency is going to happen.

It’s inevitable that drivers will begin looking at smaller, neighborhood roads to cut through the major traffic backups. One resident went before the Phoenixville Borough Council last week to ask for additional police officers to keep motorists from using Anderson Road as an alternate route, according to the Daily Local News. PennDOT signs directs traffic to remain on the designated detours, but the community member feared commuters would use the road anyway, creating a possible hazard for children walking around the neighborhood.

(Twitter photo/@TheDevilsShare)