DICKSON CITY, Pa. — People driving in the area of Commerce boulevard, hoping to run errands or grab lunch, were greeted with "road closed" signs once again. This familiar road in Dickson City has had its fair share of troubles. Every time it rains, drivers have to be detoured.
Nancy Burris and Tammy Hample were coming to the area for lunch and were surprised at how bad the road was flooded.
"There was a river going across the whole road over there, so they rerouted to Taco Bell, and then Taco Bell got upset, which I don't blame them, so they put cones up to block it there, so I don't know where they were making them go after that," Burris said.
Newswatch 16 found part of the road collapsing and what appears to be a drainage issue because of it.
When the road is closed, it's bad news for businesses. Peter Montana is the owner of Basilico's Pizzeria and says he dreads every time it rains since the drainage problems began. If customers don't want to deal with the hassle of getting to the restaurant, his business takes a hit.
"If you come from this way, and the road shut down, but it's how you make a U-turn you got to go up (Route) 6, all the way around, I really lost a customer," Montana said.
"If I was one of these businesses here, I would be very frustrated if I had to deal with that all the time," Burris said.
Dickson City Police set up the road closure, so vehicles didn't drive through the flooded roadway and get stuck, but that didn't stop drivers from going around the cones to avoid the long detour. Because this isn't the first time it's happened, people say they are just fed up and want the problems to get fixed.
"It's been like that for a couple of months now, so I mean, you know eventually it's got to get somebody's got to take responsibility and do something," Hample said.
We reached out to Dickson City officials about the problem but did not receive a callback.