Despite PennDOT's placement of more than 30 detour, closure and caution signs, many drivers still found themselves lost or confused over the weekend as they negotiated Tamaqua's 18.8 mile SR309 detour.

"Placement and location of closure signs weren't adequate enough," stated Dave Mattson, Tamaqua Chief of Police, adding, "No adequate signs were placed at the SR443 west and SR309 intersection," adding, "Northbound and southbound SR309 traffic should not have been allowed to travel all the way to the closure."Tractor trailers and many other drivers were seen turning around through Tamaqua's side streets and local business parking lots as they ran into the road closure.Multiple tractor trailers damaged property on the Hess gas station lot.Another tractor trailer driver, realizing he couldn't travel up Spruce Street, ran over a newly installed cross walk and damaged the side of a business as he turned onto Spruce Street.Another area of confusion for some drivers was the intersection of SR902 and W. White Bear Drive, as northbound drivers, not seeing detour signs, turned onto W. White Bear Drive, which turns into Owl Creek Road, to find out they went in a circle.Saturday afternoon a PennDOT engineer responded and placed more signs at various locations on the detour route.State Rep. Jerry Knowles said he will be meeting with PennDOT officials over the next few days to determine the cause of the detour issues and prevent any future problems from happening again.SR309 was reopened just after 10 p.m. last night.