North Texas Road Construction Slowing Package, Mail Delivery

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - While you're sitting trying to merge into the only open lane on a major highway, or maneuvering the latest twists and turns of a traffic lane switch, know that companies that deliver packages feel your pain.

The letter you mailed or package you're expecting could very well be delayed by the same highway construction that's slowing you down.

Rick Carber is the operations manager over transportation with UPS and he says highway delays can slow deliveries and end up costing the company money. "We have to pay guaranteed service refunds to our customers if our time in transit doesn't meet what the customer paid for."

Carber said visitors have told him the severity of the traffic delays is unique to North Texas. "The construction is the biggest challenge. As a matter of fact, when we have people come in from different parts of the country, they always note that the construction in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is far worst than most any places that they have seen."

UPS administrators say they are constantly monitoring changing road conditions, and re-routing trucks to keep operations on time.

The construction and delivery issues were a topic at a meeting of the Tarrant Regional Transportation Coalition on Wednesday. Customer Relations Specialist Kelly Pinto said the congestion delays are negatively impacting budgets at the U.S. Postal Service. "It's a huge impact on us, because it causes our employees in the processing plants to have to work overtime to process the mail that got there late."

Pinto said a lot of departments in the USPS experience additional costs because of the roadway tie-ups. "It trickles all the way down to our letter carriers, getting them out on the street to deliver later. Which means they're getting back in later in the evening."

Both Carber and Pinto said they expect to get some relief once the Interstate-35W project is completed.

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