For the past several months, my drive to work has required me to take the Wooster Road detour to avoid the construction on CR 250E. The condition of this road is appalling, but it is a better alternative than driving through Warsaw.
However, on my way in today, I crossed U.S. 30 at CR 325E, as I have been doing since the detour has been established. All of the original detour signs are still in place, but Wooster Road was blocked off with large road closed signs. There was no posted detour as to how to get around this new piece of construction, nor was there any warning prior to the road closed sign itself. For those of us who are local, this is an annoyance, but we can cope. For a visitor from out of town, this could be a major headache.
I will be the first to agree that Wooster Road needs work. And I realize that CR 250E is a project of the town of Winona Lake, while the County Highway Department is responsible for Wooster Road east of town. But I don't believe it is too much to ask that these two entities cooperate in order to ensure the least impact to traffic on these roads.
Wooster Road should have been repaired before it became a detour for the CR 250E project, not after, and definitely not during.
The issue here is not that our road crews are unable to repair or maintain roads. I have been very impressed with our county's response to potholes and other hazards, especially in a year when flooding greatly increased the demand for their services. But, I would like to ask that those in charge please consider better coordinating their efforts so that things like this don't happen in the future.
