CRESCO, Pa. — "Road closed" signs now greet drivers trying to cross the bridge over buck hill creek near Cresco. Crews are working to repair the stone bridge on route 191.
PennDOT has detours in place, but the drive around isn't easy for people such as David Phy, who lives in Barrett Township.
"I feel it's going to be an additional 20 minutes to go around to get down through there. That's going through Buck Hill, which we aren't supposed to use," Phy said. "We are supposed to go down through Canadensis, which will be longer yet."
PennDOT expects the closure to be in place until at least July.
Drivers will have to use Route 390 and Route 447 to get around.
"We are just going to have to get used to it, find alternate routes. I mean, you can go up Route 196 and down into Mount Pocono," said Charles Burrows from Barrett Township.
Not only is the closure impacting drivers and people who live here, but it's also a concern to a director who runs a camp near the bridge.
"We are a year-round camp and retreat center, and so we have guests that come on weekends throughout the year, and we run seven weeks of summer camp, so soon we will have campers here every week," said Rev. Ronald Schane, Pocono Plateau Camp and Retreat.
Rev. Schane says it's not only retreat guests he's worried about, but employees, too.
"Hopefully, they will not get lost. We've already posted on our website detour directions to get them here the quickest way they can. The biggest impact is actually going to be for our resident employees. Getting down to the bottom of the mountain to the closest grocery store and such is adding a lot more time."
The bridge repairs are part of a $3.1 million contract to make repairs to six bridges in the northeastern Pennsylvania region.