Five weeks, two editorials and several phone calls later, frustrated Mahoning Township supervisors are still trying to get PennDOT to do something to prevent problems created by its direction to Wal-Mart contractors to place large jersey barriers at the intersection of 443 and Ashtown Road.

Township Chairperson John Wieczorek expressed his frustration with the run around he was receiving to simply close the section of Ashtown Road from Mall Road to Route 443 where the hazard exists."Apparently if you don't ask the right questions, no one provides the right information," Wieczorek said when describing his frustration about getting a straight answer from anyone he called with regard to the situation."No one volunteers information. They don't have the decency to tell you what is going on, on their own, without asking the proper question."Wieczorek added, "Never has there been an issue that has had more people calling me than this barricade (on Route 443)."He said that while the road has been approved to be closed since the last meeting, there still are no signs there from the state."I called the engineer who said the signage permit was submitted and received approval. I called PennDOT who told me after I questioned them that they had received and approved the permit, but no one came right out and told me why the road wasn't closed until I asked them where the signs were."According to Wieczorek, Lehighton Borough lent the township a road closed sign for the Mall Road end of the quarter mile stretch but the township is still waiting for the signs ordered by PennDOT to come to completely close the road."I wish they could have simply volunteered that the signs were ordered and they would be posted as soon as they received them. Instead of volunteering that information to us, they said nothing and made me ask questions until I found the right queries to get the answers from them," he said.Wieczorek said for such a simple matter that would only take "two or three weeks," the issue seems to have no resolution in sight as it has been ongoing for almost two months.