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Suspended mail route prompts complaints from residents

After residents in a Washington County community were told they wouldn’t get their mail delivered for more than two months because of a construction project, complaints made the postal service change its mind.

The project would have made carriers go seven miles out of their way for dozens of residents in North Strabane Township.

Bridge construction at Linden Creek Road and Linden Road was supposed to put a stop to home mail delivery in the area for 10 weeks.

“It's real nice to go out and put your bills in the mailbox and put the flag up,” said Sylvia Phillips, who is among more than 70 residents who got letters two days ago from the U.S. Postal Service alerting them that for those 10 weeks, they would have to pick up their mail at the Canonsburg/McMurray post office annex.

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“I thought, ‘That's going to be hard. We're going to have to go all the way down around,’” she said. “We can't go but every few days, plus all these other people are gonna go there too.”

Channel 11 called the USPS and talked to spokesman Tad Kelley, who said, “Initially, it wasn't feasible for postal carriers to go seven miles around the detour."

But after receiving complaints, Kelly said the service reevaluated and decided to resume home mail delivery starting Friday.