EASTON, Pa. — Easton’s Wood Avenue will get some TLC now that City Council has approved an agreement with Grace Industries to provide the roadway with some much-needed improvements.
Council on Wednesday approved a $1,795,577.02 agreement with Grace Industries to fund the Wood Avenue Improvements Project.
It's set to include Americans With Disabilities ramps, traffic-calming islands, direction conversions for the unit block of Wood Avenue and Church Street, and new geometry for the intersection of Church, 7th and Prospect Streets.
- Easton City Council approved a near-$1.8 million agreement with Grace Industries to fund the Wood Avenue Improvements Project during Wednesday's meeting
- The project will encompass repaving the old stretch of roadway, improving ramps and ADA access points and reversing one-way portions of Wood Avenue and Church Street
- The project is slated to begin by the end of summer, though it may have to wait until spring of 2024 for completion
The funding, derived from grants — including $1.1 from the state Transportation Department's Highway Transfer “Turnback” Program, $450,000 from PennDOT’s Multimodal Transportation Fund and additional funding from a second MTF grant — will augment matching funds from Lafayette College.
“You have to have a good foundation for anything above it, so all the existing concrete will get repaired, and that will get paved over.”Acting City Administrator and Director of Public Services David Hopkins
Five bids of up to $2.5 million total were considered for the project.
Taking back a road
Acting City Administrator and Director of Public Services David Hopkins said the avenue was in desperate need of basic repairs before any more improvements can move forward.
“The road has existed since the ‘50s, with really very little work, and we took it back from PennDOT in order to make the improvements,” Hopkins said.
“We felt that at some point, they really didn’t have a plan to improve the road, so we took it back to make the improvements. You have to have a good foundation for anything above it, so all the existing concrete will get repaired, and that will get paved over.
“You still have the islands at each intersection that are meant to sort of highlight where the pedestrians cross, calm traffic, sort of increase pedestrian awareness, ADA access throughout the entire corridor."
"Every corner is getting replaced with a new ramp, and then on the Northampton Street end, we’re flipping that unit block to one-way east, and then we’re flipping Church Street one-way west."
Reversing the direction of the street near Northampton also will open more on-street parking locations, according to renderings shown during the council meeting.
A confusing intersection
In addition, the intersection of Church, 7th and Prospect Streets, which Hopkins characterized as “confusing” because of two stop signs, will be addressed during the work.
“Instead of that double stop, we took a lot of the real estate with curb bump-outs, and we T-ed it off, which is a common method to make intersections a lot safer, and there’s a lot less going on there," Hopkins said.
"It also gave us the opportunity to green it up, and I think it’ll be a really nice improvement through there.”Acting Easton City Administrator David Hopkins
"It also gave us the opportunity to green it up, and I think it’ll be a really nice improvement through there.”
Hopkins said input from Easton Fire Department helped make the decision.
Proposed islands will have pass-throughs, letting pedestrians cross from one side of the street’s ADA-compliant ramp to the other side of the street, while other islands may feature green space.
“We thought it would be good to get some verdancy into the area," Hopkins said. "It’s probably tough to maintain, but we’re willing to do it because we think it’s worth it, and we think this major thoroughfare through this neighborhood could use it."
Hopkins said the goal is to have the project underway by August, and largely completed by December, though additional work such as paving may have to be bumped to spring 2024.
“I don’t think we’re going to make it in time,” Hopkins said. “The blacktop plants close, and I just don’t think they can finish that quickly. It’s a big construction project to go from 7th Street to the 13th Street interchange, so it’s going to take them a while to get that done.”
