One of the busiest roads in Butler County is being widened and straightened at the cost of millions of dollars.

Before the last part of the new Route 228 finally opens to traffic, drivers on that busy road will face delays, detours and an ever-changing driving experience that will challenge their skills and test their patience. That’s the nature of road construction.

But as we write this, we don’t know if road conditions were to blame for the accident that sent Mars Bus No. 4 off Route 228 and onto its right side almost two weeks ago.

“We are thankful for our bus driver, we are thankful for our brave students, we are thankful for Myers and their support, for our first responders from all over the region,” Dayle Ferguson, Mars School Board president, said this week. “We were blessed that day. The event itself was horrific, but we were blessed.”

That sounds like a contradiction, but Ferguson is correct. A horrific incident that resulted in no serious injuries for the 40 children on board that bus is a blessed result.

As we write this, the Adams Township Police Department is conducting its investigation into the accident, but we know that Bus No. 4 did not have any mechanical problems that could have contributed to the accident.

To its credit, the Mars School Board is continuing to push this issue. Superintendent Wesley Shipley said this week that school officials met with the bus company, A.J. Myers & Sons and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. The district also sent a letter about this issue to PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards.

The question for PennDOT is simple: While Route 228 is under construction, is it safe enough for school buses?

Here’s the question that the public deserves an answer to: Did road conditions, as they existed on Sept. 24, send Bus No. 4 over that embankment?

Route 228 will remain a work in progress for many years to come, but the classic warning to drive for the existing road conditions doesn’t seem to fit when the road itself is constantly changing and we can’t just shut Route 228 down as various sections of it are widened and rebuilt.

So the larger, long-term question is how school buses — and any other kind of vehicle — can safely traverse Route 228 while the work is being done.

We encourage PennDOT to work with law enforcement not only during this investigation, but moving forward to ensure that the road conditions never contribute to an afternoon like the one Mars students and parents endured on Sept. 24.

Years from now, when the work on 228 is finally complete and the road is a safe, well-planned and well-maintained link between Route 8 and U.S. 19, the circumstances that wrecked Bus No. 4 will be forgotten by most people — except for those who were on that bus.

We need to do everything possible to ensure that is the last time a school bus careens off Route 228.