DAZE WORK: You can’t get there from here

Mayor Bill Dory warned us. INDOT warned us. But it wasn’t until experiencing it firsthand that we realized the U.S. 231 project is going to try our patience.

And of all people, I should know better, having written about a dozen stories about the two-year road repair project and the requisite street closures and detours riding along with it.

The project has literally been dominating discussion everywhere I’ve been this week. Breakfast at McDonald’s. Park Board meeting. Checkout line at Kroger.

There have been reports of cars driving over the sidewalk at Seminary and Bloomington to get around, near misses on Bloomington Street and people driving the wrong way on East Anderson Street, which remains one-way eastbound.

INDOT hosted some productive meetings on the project. And the contractor has put up road closed and detour signs everywhere you look. So we all should know by now.

Yet there I was Saturday night, the very day barricades went up everywhere -- April fool -- as a friend and I were headed to Beef and Boards at Indianapolis. I made her drive, which I guess made me the navigator. As an aside, why does everyone I ride with want to go south, all the way to Cloverdale, to pick up Interstate 70 when it’s shorter to go immediately east on State Road 240 to U.S. 40?

So as we headed south on Wood Street, turning west onto Tennessee Street, we ran into the first barricade as we approached U.S. 231 with two pickup trucks ahead of us also trying to navigate the new road closure. Both trucks paused momentarily and then turned into the Double Decker parking lot, maneuvered around the building and emerged at Bloomington and Apple streets. With a shrug and a giggle, we followed suit.

If you thought over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s house was quite the joy ride, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Staring U.S. 231 in the face now, could we turn south and sneak through past Veterans Highway? Should we? Could we wait and see if traffic would clear enough to try?

Discretion being the better part of valor, we zipped across the highway, onto Apple Street, a tiny stretch of roadway that runs in front of the Maytag laundromat. From there it was left onto Main Street -- where there seemed to be an unusual number of parked cars hindering the view -- before stopping at Broadway. There, despite the permanent road divider on U.S. 231, you still can’t access the southbound lane right now because the detour has northbound traffic using it.

So to get headed south, we first had to turn right on Broadway/Berry Street, follow it to Putnamville Street and go left, then roll up to Veterans Highway, take another left and turn right at the light. Got all that?

Definitely been seeing parts of Greencastle I haven’t seen for a while.

If navigating around 231 wasn’t bad enough, another construction project has East Franklin Street down to one lane between Locust Street and College Avenue (although Thursday morning it was closed entirely). They’ve even added a temporary stopsign for westbound traffic on Franklin to linger at Locust.

At least twice a day every day I use Franklin Street to get from home to the office. It’s a tight squeeze westbound each morning but invariably I forget about the lane closure when I head home in the evening. So I end up turning in circles, searching for the right path until I can get past Locust Street.

I have to keep reminding myself that I really need to go Jackson Street to Washington Street to Locust Street to Franklin Street to Northwood Boulevard and finally Highwood Avenue just to get home via downtown. Or take Jackson Street north to Shadowlawn to Greenwood Avenue to Highwood.

Patience, dear friends, patience.

Eventually, like a water leak, we’re all going to find the path of least resistance and move along. By fair parade time I figure I should be used to it.

Until then ... you can’t get there from here.