Drivers seem to be slow to learn

Is this going to have to be resolved one truck driver at a time?
Portland’s big Indiana Department of Transportation and city project on East Water Street/Indiana 26 has complicated travel for everybody.
But local folks got the message quickly.
They figured out detours and alternate routes. Sure, they sometimes found themselves trying to make a left turn into a bunch of “Road Closed” signs, but they adjusted pretty quickly.
Not so for America’s corps of semi drivers, particularly the long-haul folks who are focused on a distant destination.
Little things like detours are annoyances to them. They are hurdles, and they aren’t very big hurdles. For every official state detour there is at least one unofficial detour on roads that were never intended to take heavy tractor-trailer traffic.
Trouble is, the usual ways-around, the usual strategies don’t work when it comes to the East Water Street/Indiana 26 project.
This time, when the sign says, “Road Closed,” it means exactly that.
But the message has been slow getting through.
It’s safe to say that barely a day passes without some enterprising semi driver who figures he can get around the construction getting hung up in narrow streets on Portland’s east side.
On one level, you have to admire their persistence and ingenuity. But at the same time, it has become a serious headache for local police, residents of the east side of Portland and — until the end of the school year — bus drivers trying to transport students to and from East Elementary School and East Jay Middle School.
The problem, of course, is that this is a one-at-a-time event. It’s not that truckers are stupid. Once they learn the details of the situation, they get it. But as a group, they’re inclined to be skeptical of authority and have confidence in their own ability to work things out.
So what we’re faced with — unfortunately — is a long summer of clogged streets, confused drivers, big rigs in small places and tickets. Lots of tickets. — J.R.