2021 should deliver smoother rides
PennDOT focuses on several paving projects in the Lehigh Valley
Lehigh Valley motorists should get used to the smell of tar and macadam in 2021 as some of the busiest stretches of highway in the region will be repaved.
After a funding crisis delayed or scrapped some of the Lehigh
Valley’s most ambitious projects, PennDOT will take a more meat-and-potatoes approach to maintaining the region’s transportation infrastructure in the new year. Ambitious projects like widening Route 22 have been put on indefinite hold in favor of preserving the highways as they currently exist, said Chris Kufro, acting executive director of PennDOT District 5. He compared the situation to a cash-strapped motorist opting to repair an old car instead of paying for a new vehicle.
“The major reconstruction is on the shelf right now. This is just the cycle of paving. Even if we were doing that, we would still have to get this out of the way,” he said.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation mandated that Pennsylvania shift more money to maintaining its interstate system. The decision pulled $380 million away from local projects over the next 12 years. While interstates are the lifeblood of most economic centers, the switch particularly hurt the
Lehigh Valley, where Interstate 78 has less traffic than Route 22 and Route 33.
In the near term, though, drivers should experience a smoother ride on some of the Valley’s main thoroughfares. Documents show this year PennDOT intends to spend:
$15.3 million repaving 7.7 miles of Route 22; most of it will go toward improving the highway between I-78 and MacArthur Road.
$5.3 million repaving Route 33 between Tatamy and Route 22.
$4.7 million resurfacing MacArthur Road between the Lehigh Valley Mall and Route 329.
“I’m glad to see it happening,” Whitehall Township Mayor Mike Harakal said. “It could create some problems, some impediments, but as they say, a short-term inconvenience is worth a long-term benefit.”
Kufro was optimistic the construction won’t snarl traffic to a halt. Due to the high volumes on the roads getting resurfaced, construction crews will work overnight to minimize congestion.
“They need to pull their restrictive patterns off, usually by 5 or 6 a.m. They want to be out of the way by the morning rush hour,” Kufro said.
Race Street, which has had heavier traffic since FedEx Ground opened its warehouse in Allen Township, will also get some tender loving care. The road will be repaved between Airport Road and First Avenue in Whitehall Township.
Some of Race Street’s intersections in Catasauqua will also get some TLC. Front Street and Second Street will be converted to two-way roads, and traffic signals will be added at their corners with Race.
Turn lanes will be added to the corner of Race and Lehigh Street as well.
Route 512 in the Slate Belt is also due for improvements. More than five miles of the highway will be getting much-needed repaving between downtown Bangor and Route 611.
PennDOT also hopes to wrap up work on the Tilghman Street Bridge in Allentown.
The rehabilitation project has encountered a series of setbacks from the start as sub-zero temperatures delayed construction beginning in the winter of 2018.
Construction crews found the substructure in worse shape than previously thought, and the coronavirus halted work for several weeks this summer. Still, Kufro hoped work on the bridge should wrap up around Labor Day.
The overall project cost has ballooned to $24.6 million, according to PennDOT documents, $2.7 million more than
originally projected.
The 91-year-old span has been in rough shape for years. City officials recognized losing the span for so long has been a strain on residents and commuters and are eager to see the work completed.
“It has been a long time coming,” said city spokesperson Mike Moore.
“I was present at a news conference then-Gov. Ed Rendell held underneath the bridge to promote the need for bridge rehabilitation funds. That is at least 10 years ago. Allentown residents will be very happy to know that the end is in sight and a major east-west artery will be available again soon.”
One project that won’t be
getting underway is the replacement of the Cementon Bridge between Northampton and Whitehall Township. The bridge carries Route 329 over the Lehigh River, and plans have called for building a new bridge alongside the existing one before shifting traffic onto the new span.
However, delays with the project mean work won’t get underway there until late 2022 or even 2023, Kufro said. PennDOTinitially projected the work would cost $17 million and finish by the summer of 2023.