Warehouse plan could hurt traffic on large road
If proposal to build 3 facilities in Lowhill gets OK, look for uptick on Route 100, adjacent roads
You don’t have to travel far up Route 100 from Interstate 78 to lose the long rows of warehouses, fast-food restaurants, motels, office buildings and traffic lights.
Go north from the traffic light at Tilghman Street, pass a shopping center, a couple of more lights and you’re suddenly in the country. Crossing into Lowhill Township is like a throwback time when the Lehigh Valley’s industries stayed mainly in the cities, and boroughs and the townships were mostly farms and quarries.
Lowhill has an abundance of green, rolling hills; farms; single family homes; and patches of trees, along with a handful of businesses. It covers 14 square miles and has about 2,500 residents. One-third of the land is taken up by the Trexler-Lehigh County Game Preserve and state game lands.
If a proposal to build three warehouses in Lowhill gets through the application process, the growth that has been a way of life in neighboring municipalities, such as Upper Macungie Township, could finally spill over.
It will also bring an uptick of traffic, including tractor-trailers, on Route 100 and adjacent roads. That potential for backups and round-the-clock movement is especially concerning for residents.
Sue McGorry has lived in Lowhill for 22 years, moving to the area for its rural beauty and safety with access to educational institutions.
“We did not expect to see warehouses in our area,” McGorry said. “There are plenty of empty warehouses sitting along the 78 corridor and most of the land in our region is zoned residential or rural village, not industrial.”
The warehouses
The three warehouses proposed for Lowhill, which are a combined 700,000 square feet, are clustered around where Route 100 meets Kernsville and Claussville roads at a traffic light near the southwestern corner of the township. That area is the township’s commercial zoning district
and already has a handful of businesses, including Lowhill Corporate Center, a car and truck dealership, an insurance agent, a day care and bank branch.
The biggest warehouse would be just over 312,000 square feet on 43 acres at 2766 Route 100, just south of the traffic light. It is an open field with a farmhouse. Texas-based Trammell Crow Co., which is also developing warehouses near Dutch Springs in Lower Nazareth Township, is the builder for this site.
About a half-mile up Kernsville Road, the second-biggest warehouse would sit on 52 acres at 2951 Betz Court and take up 299,800 square feet. It is the only site of the three that already has a business on it, The Mulch Spot. The land is owned by township Supervisor Vice Chair George Wessner Jr. and the developer is CRG Acquisition LLC.
The third, and smallest, warehouse would be on 21.6 acres at 7503 Kernsville Road and would be just over 100,000 square feet. It was originally going to be more than 200,000 square feet. The land has a farmhouse, barn and an open field. Core5 Industrial Partners, which also has industrial properties in Berks and Monroe counties, is the developer.
“All three of them submitted a preliminary land development plan and all three of them were tabled,” Lowhill Township Administrator Brian Carl said. “So far they’re doing some redesign and getting some additional information.”
Bumper-tobumper?
According to PennDOT figures from 2020, about 15,000 vehicles travel that section of Route 100 daily.
The warehouse at 2766 Route 100 alone is expected to generate 534 daily trips, including 187 truck trips, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission says. It would also bring about 70 trips during each of the rush hours.
“I would say traffic is the township’s No. 1 concern,” Carl said. “We have consistent congestion on Route 100. When that signal was put in at 100 and Claussville and Kernsville, it was certainly an improvement but it isn’t perfect. It is a wide intersection that’s kind of shaped like an X, not a T.”
LVPC was concerned about trucks entering and exiting from Route 100 and recommended a right turn lane from Claussville Road onto Route 100, adjusting the timing of the traffic light, adding a protected left turn from westbound Kernsville Road and extending the right turn from northbound 100 to Kernsville Road.
“There’s no advanced turn arrows if you’re coming from Claussville or from Kernsville,” Carl said. “If you’re coming from Route 100, looking to go east onto Kernsville you have to get into opposing traffic. If you’re a larger vehicle, that little turn lane just isn’t big enough. So there’s quite a bit of improvement that really should be done. Whether or not we can legally push them to be done is another story but it definitely needs some improvements in that area.”
Lehigh County Commissioner Bob Elbich, a Lowhill resident and LVPC member, said he travels the roads in the area every day and is concerned about the traffic around that intersection.
“It’s not impossible, but it’s darn near impossible for a tractor-trailer to make a left turn heading south on Route 100,” Elbich said during a meeting of the LVPC’s Comprehensive Planning Committee in April. “I’ve sat in that turn lane for many, many, many, many days as a tractor-trailer has to back up and come around off onto the berm to try and turn south on 100.
“That entire intersection is going to have to be rebuilt in order to accommodate truck traffic,” Elbich added.
“That intersection is an absolute disaster.”
Another concern is trucks using back roads to access I-78. An alternative route is using Claussville and Kecks roads and Old Route 22 to catch the highway at the New Smithville interchange in Weisenberg Township. The LVPC also noted that the nearest truck stop from the warehouses is the Sheetz in New Smithville, which could draw truckers looking for a rest.
“Claussville Road is not a very good location for tractor-trailers to be traveling that route,” Elbich said. “I personally have spent many evenings with the fire company directing traffic at that intersection because of accidents. So that alternative route is absolutely terrible for getting onto Route 78. And we know that vehicles are going to use that route, so that is also an absolutely terrible location.”
McGorry says local road infrastructure cannot handle the increased volume. She also cited PennDOT numbers that revealed 281 accidents on the stretch of Route 100 between 2011 and 2020 with five fatalities and 116 injuries.
“The traffic studies conducted by the developers do not collectively address the three warehouses that are currently being proposed within a 1-mile radius of one another in a largely residential area,” she said. “These warehouses would be constructed on top of homes and will also significantly contribute to truck traffic on Route 100.
“Local road infrastructure, as currently designed, cannot handle the increase in volume,” McGorry said. “The LVPC has also stated that this development would not be consistent with the regional plan. We are concerned about safety but we also worry about the area’s landscape, quality of life and long-term economic well-being: they are all at risk.”
Becky Bradley, LVPC executive director, said PennDOT is willing to meet with the township to do a traffic study to address the impact of the three developments.
“This is the one shot for three developments to actually be coordinated simultaneously instead of piecemeal,” she said during the April meeting.
Moving forward
Carl said it will be several months before dirt is turned for any of the warehouses. There’s still plenty of approvals to go, along with potential construction delays due to shortage of materials that is affecting all building projects.
“Realistically, this is going to go through the process for several months, well into the summer,” Carl said. “And then you’re looking at getting environmental permits, planning modules for the septic systems from the DEP. I wouldn’t expect to see any under construction this year. Know that and then look at whatever material delays and I keep hearing that there’s massive delays for things like steel decking for roofs and rebar and things like that.”
The developers are also in the early stages of traffic design.
“So we really haven’t even received PennDOT comments back from anything,” Carl said.
One thing Carl cautions is that the township cannot simply veto the projects.
“You just can’t say no,” Carl said. “And I think that’s a misconception with a lot of people that just don’t know. They think that well, OK, the township can just say no to anything, and it doesn’t work that way. We have to follow the municipal planning code and within the MPC all municipalities have to allow for every type of use, unless you do a joint plan.”
Lowhill has one of those with Weisenberg, Heidelberg, Lynn and Washington townships and Slatington that dates to 2004. Carl said the township and the other municipalities are updating it.
“But even with that, you still do need to allow for these uses somewhere in this plan area,” Carl said.
McGorry said citizens will continue to voice their concerns throughout the process and work at updating the township’s multiple municipality agreement for wise development.
“We have attended a few of the LVPC meetings and many issues have been raised in addition to safety: air quality, carbon emissions, quality of life,” she said. “Local residents must be aware and engaged to work with local officials to make growth safe and productive.”