Greg Brian

Just about every city or town has a mainline railroad track often crossing roads that take you into other important areas. And, perhaps far too frequent, is the chance of a train breaking down or stopping—hence blocking you from gaining access to main arterials. This usually happens as the result of mechanical issues, or the unfortunate situation of people committing suicide somewhere up the track line. As a result, you may already know it can create frustrating delays when delivering food to people while doing DoorDash or Uber Eats.

Here in Salem, Oregon, the above happens far too often—sometimes every two weeks or less. It was something I had to deal with various times when needing to deliver food or drinks to someone across town. Yes, it made me wish for flying cars being available NOW and not just ahead in a speculative future.

It’s not merely trains blocking your roads either. You’re going to encounter frequent construction projects on your local streets—unless your city is broke and has no money to fix those potholes. Add in the possibility of street protestors that are far more prevalent now than ever. They can be worse than halted trains.

How do you deal with these road blockages, and what kind of detours can you find to avoid sitting and cussing away in your car? This is not an easy subject to solve, though I do have some answers for you. But, it’s usually not any help from Google or Apple Maps.

Train Breakdowns

Most train breakdowns in my city were freight trains. This was the most unfortunate type of train stoppage because freight trains measure much longer than travel trains like Amtrak. Once in a while, though, an Amtrak train was stopped due to an object (or person) in the way on the tracks. In that case, it was multiple dozens of travelers being delayed as much as I was.

One thing about my local mainline track is that if the train is long enough, it’s going to mean every possible passageway to the other side of town becoming blocked. This happened numerous times to me, despite once being lucky enough to find an intersection free. The train moved up just enough to allow traffic to get through more than a mile away.

If you encounter a train breakdown, you might be stuck in a traffic jam of other waiting cars, depending on time of day. The worst time is on a weekday while delivering for the lunch hour. Although it seemed that the majority of train stalls for me were on weekend afternoons. Regardless, it still caused traffic snarls.

You’ll probably find that most drivers around you will try to find a way to back up and get out of there. Whatever you do, don’t just sit and spout every profanity. The first thing you need to do is get into the Uber or DoorDash chat box and tell the customer you’re delivering to that you’re delayed by a stopped train. You should be communicating with them already while on your way as I’ve recommended here many times.

Let them know you’ll be delayed by the train and you’ll attempt to find a detour to get there as soon as possible. Most customers are going to be understanding about this since there isn’t a lot that can be done.

On the other hand, if traffic manages to back up and clear out enough, you have a way to escape and find a detour. Here’s a big problem, though: Uber and DoorDash’s GPS system (Google Maps as default) doesn’t offer any detours in emergency situations. 

The GPS still insists you take the route it thinks is best for you to get to the delivery destination.  I managed to get out of the way and drive up the line to find a free intersection to drive through. Every time I did, the GPS would just take me back to the same street where the train was sitting. So, I say to Uber and DoorDash: Start adding detours on the GPS to avoid delays. There’s always alternative ways to get anywhere, even if lifelong residents in a town or city may not know exactly what that is. 

Having lived in my city since birth, I knew a few detours. Even then, many stalled trains just blocked too many pass-throughs, making any detour impossible, if an hour-long delay going a longer way. Whatever you do, don’t get out of your car and start making a run for it out of desperation.

Your best bet is to study maps of your town or city as thoroughly as you can. Look at alternative places where you can drive under or over railroad tracks so you know exactly where to go if encountering a train that’s stopped for likely hours. 

Road Blocks from Construction 

Yes, trains are the worst in road blockages because they’re often stalled for at least an hour if not more. Construction projects can also cause frequent delays, if not usually for more than 15 minutes. Still, it’s worth calculating what this might mean for your deliveries without losing your patience.

The good thing here is GPS systems sometimes pick up that there’s construction going on in your city. When I used Apple Maps, it seemed to detect where construction was going on and sometimes outlined an alternative route. However, this was only for longer road work projects and not something unexpected or shorter term. 

GPS systems need more time to tell you what’s going on with your local roads. Even then, it’s not always completely accurate, as I found out. Despite road work signs usually showing you how to take a particular detour, it can take you way out of the way of your intended delivery point.

Again, if this happens, go into the chat boxes and tell your customers you’re stuck in a road work zone that’s being held up by a flagger. The real culprit here is heavy traffic having to wait while the flagger allows traffic from the opposite lane to drive through. 

Once in a while, you might encounter an impatient driver who doesn’t understand the detours, hence them hurriedly driving through a blocked-off street. I did this once, though not as a DoorDash driver. DON’T do this since you’ll piss off the nearby construction crew, not including possibly being fined for ignoring detours.

Street Protestors

We’re living in very volatile times, and that means the chances of street protestors has grown tenfold in the last few years. Maybe your town or city is more fortunate in being politically neutral. But, even here in Salem, OR (because it’s Oregon’s capital city), I’ve found myself in the middle of some potentially testy protest events. 

These street blockages are even more problematic since nobody really knows when a street protest is going to happen—unless you’re one of the protestors seeing it scheduled on social media. For a DoorDash or Uber deliverer like yourself, this could potentially trap you in place for the same amount of time as a broken down train.

While my protestor encounters were not during DoorDash delivery times, the potential was always there. If you find yourself in such an encounter, it’s again imperative to tell your customer what’s happening. They may be shocked when you tell them this, but they’ll usually be understanding. In all likelihood, they’ve encountered street protestors themselves.

To get out of the situation, try to find a quick place to turn around or take a side road. The sooner you can dodge a street protest, the better, even if going out of the way to your destination. Just don’t get frustrated and try to drive through a crowd of people. Worse, it could lead to angry protestors trashing your car. 

Finding Detours On Your Own

Again, it’s a good idea to memorize all the main and side arterials within your city. If you’ve just moved to that city or town, get to know ALL the roads before you start delivering for DoorDash. The more you know about alternative routes, the better on DoorDash or Uber not taking it out on you for delivering late.

Let’s hope GPS systems can improve to allow for real-time detours in the event of road blockages. Why that isn’t available already is proof corporations want to skimp on offering better technology for those who work for them. 

Sometimes you’ll discover the routes GPS insists are the best way to reach your customer aren’t really the best routes after all. You may find detour routes that shave delivery time at least by a couple of minutes. I’ve discovered a few better routes to arrive to familiar delivery points than the GPS initially told me. 

The problem there is DoorDash and Uber say you need to follow the GPS routes provided or face possible deactivation. That’s basically forced technological adherence when said tech doesn’t always know better than a human. Routes I knew were better allowed me to prove to the bots my way was faster.

Just like I said in Chapter 3 about finding your “Center Street” to find more delivery offers, it’s time to find your best detours. A few might mean driving through a gravel road or a side street with Grand Canyon level potholes. Whatever you do, don’t drive through someone’s yard or in spots that say No Trespassing.

In Chapter XXXV, I’ll look at another road problem: Increasing debris in U.S. roads. This can lead to constant flat tires as I too often experienced. It’s best to create a plan for tire maintenance—as in every day. 

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