Chatterbox: Rambling roads

This column is being birthed over the rumbling of the Pennsylvania 202 bypass, south, just past 313, outside of Doylestown. Much like driving over railroad ties, this road has been in desperate need of repair since my family moved here in 1987 … really.
Considering the number of cars using this stretch, and especially that it’s an essential access to a hospital, one would think it would be kept up impeccably regardless of complaints. Yet, the road has remained in slip-shod, patchwork disrepair – especially southbound.
Personally, I reported the issue on four separate occasions over the years. Specifying the use of this stretch of road by ambulances in urgent service to the hospital and that its condition has been so unacceptable for decades, its condition is not just an inconvenience but a danger as well. Its improvement and routine upkeep should have become imperative 25 years ago.
The trip away from the hospital has been neglected as well. Again, no improvements have been made, barring one: At the traffic light located on West State Street, where the 202 S exit ramp comes out, there was a monster pothole for many years – yes, years. It was at least 18 inches in circumference and easily 8 to 10 inches deep … wicked at any speed.
In all fairness, it should be mentioned that the pothole may have been patched a while ago. I can’t know for sure, as we’ve avoided that route for over a year, but I made a mental note to take notice last week, and it was patched; it was a quick, uneven job, looking much like a pot of oatmeal boiled over, but it’s better. Now we just rattle our dentures instead of risking an axle.
The reason we’ve avoided that route is that the access road for the return trip via 202 North is also in a bad state of disrepair. It’s been so bad for so long that drivers have been using its shoulder trying to avoid the degraded condition of that ramp – and that’s been the sad case for so long that the line marking the crossover onto the shoulder is disappearing from the traffic.
In today’s day and age, so many concerns are handled by us, alone, with technology. Instead of humans answering our phone calls and addressing our concerns, we are greeted by synthesized voices offering us a menu or directing us to go to a website. If we choose to hold, we may be down that rabbit hole for a long time. Occasionally we only get disconnected to boot.
Now, I’ll share: I, personally, have finished this very column, on hold, for over 20 minutes … no, no kidding. I’m listening to really bad music and the same message, repeatedly, suggests I hang up and help myself online.

In 2018, after a series of drives over the 202 S railway tracks, I contacted 1-800-FIXROAD for the fourth time in several years. I asked the representative to please add two notes to my report: 1) I’d made multiple reports on the same road over the past decade or so and, 2) If an accident were to occur due to this road’s condition, I would volunteer my testimony against PennDOT.
They were, obviously under-impressed.
Here at Chatterbox, we’ve talked often about the
“hands off” synthesized service we are all subjected to. A handicap for all consumer/customers and plain folk in need of help, these recorded menus of endless choices (usually not including the one we specifically need) are of no help to anyone except the people who employ them, from mega-corporations to local chain stores. They save money on one or two employees who could simply pick up the phone and quickly direct our call to the right place instead of us having to choose the best, if not right, option.
A bright patch I stumbled upon last week was a local pharmacy, not a chain. I rang the phone. “Hello,” a live voice answered my question instantly, “Oh, we’re open until 7.” Wow, that was awesome … like something out of the 1960s. It’s also indicates why we need to support independent, local businesses who greet us with “hello,” instead of the corporate giants whose synthesized help answers the phone with “you have reached …,” as if we don’t know whom we called.
Oh, my goodness, perfect timing. I’ve got to run; someone has just picked up my call, and I was only on hold for 28 minutes.
“Hello, PennDOT …”
(Update: Just got another call; PennDOT repairing it this week. We shall see.)

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