DELAWARE WATER GAP, Pa. — A problem road in the Poconos is again closed indefinitely after heavy rainfall led to a rock slide.
PennDOT has closed a three-mile stretch of Route 611 in Monroe County indefinitely.
Road closed and detour signs are sights that residents and business owners in Delaware Water Gap are all too familiar with.
"Here we are again. And it's like deja vu. You know, so hopefully, this isn't as bad as the last time, but we don't know," said Lauren Chamberlain, owner of Asparagus Sunshine.
Rain on Tuesday led to a rockslide on Route 611 between Delaware Water Gap in Monroe County and Portland in Northampton County.
A lengthy detour is now in place.
This isn't the first time that three-mile stretch of road has had to be closed.
PennDOT closed that same part of Route 611 in April after heavy rains washed out portions of the road.
Joyce Ousey of Atlantic City takes Route 611 to get to her vacation home.
"Very shocked. I know about the rockslides and all, and it was closed for quite a while because of that. They had to fix the walls."
Car after car pulled up to the roadblock in Delaware Water Gap, just to be turned around.
Mike Griffiths of Saylorsburg was on his way to visit a friend in Portland.
"I can see that happening. It's pretty crazy. I don't know what the people on that side are going to do because this is kind of the main thoroughfare into town and everything they need."
With the road closed again, business owners tell Newswatch 16 it will cause problems with holiday activities in the borough.
"We have a lot of events planned this weekend. We have an artisan marketplace. We have our Christmas marketplace at the Castle Inn. Everyone's got stuff going on. We have a book signing here, so yeah, it's a weekend that Saturday the town would be super busy. It's shopping season. So yeah, this is definitely going to put a damper on us," Chamberlain said.
Chamberlain sells antiques from her business Asparagus Sunshine. It's on Route 611 just before the start of the road closure.
"It leads us to believe there is definitely more that needs to be looked at with this road, and it needs to be looked at because it's also an emergency route."
PennDOT says maintenance crews have been removing debris, and engineers are reviewing the location for stability.
There is no word on when this part of Route 611 is expected to reopen.
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