Every time one goes for a drive in Beaver County, or even Pennsylvania as a whole, it seems there is always some sort of road work going on. Even though they are supposed to be fixing the road, it creates other issues that become a burden to drivers.

Monaca is one of the main surrounding areas that often has construction, and is on one of the busiest roads. The main street seems to constantly have congested traffic because of road work. There are usually some road plates on the ground, causing people to slow down before driving over them, creating even more congestion. There is also usually some sort of flagger holding a stop or proceed slowly sign. Even though it is a good thing that they are trying to put the roads in better condition, it creates all sorts of time issues. People running late for work, or even someone just wanting to go for a drive, may encounter these issues that make the trip more stressful and time-consuming.

Road work should be done only when necessary, not just as something to spend tax money on and create mediocre work. More times than less, it seems that road work always results in an increasingly bumpy road. All of the time spent and wasted by workers and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) usually still ends up putting the road in even worse condition.

Cranberry is another place that always seems like it has construction going on. The road entering Cranberry from the West has been under construction for quite some time. The conditions constantly change, with the lanes remaining open switching often, causing the traffic to get congested, because drivers have to figure out which lanes to navigate depending on what is open.

It becomes annoying having to sit behind an endless line of cars because the flagger holding the sign on stop for what seems like forever. This is even worse in places like Monaca, where there aren’t many side streets to take to effectively avoid the construction. Work in Cranberry is more avoidable, because there are many different ways to navigate, but it still becomes time-consuming, having to take a detour from the expected route.

While some road construction, like the opening of Crows Run road, created very effective options for transportation, it still caused the original road to be closed for a very long time. This is about one of the only examples of good use of road work; all the other instances are negative, as they create time-wasting, bumpy roads that no one asked for.