- A revised long-term transportation plan from the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study sees less than half as much short-term spending
- Officials say the changes won't meaningfully affect infrastructure spending
- A virtual hearing to collect public comment on the updated plan is scheduled for Nov. 8
HANOVER TWP., Pa. — A newly revised plan for the Lehigh Valley’s future transportation spending includes $930 million less in spending over the next four years — a reduction by more than half.
The Lehigh Valley Transportation Study is responsible for creating a long-range transportation plan to guide how the region’s share of federal and state transportation dollars are spent over the next 25 years.
LVTS released a draft plan this year that included $1.7 billion in short-term spending through 2026.
However, during a meeting last month, where the plan originally was set for adoption, LVTS officials announced changes that reduced total spending to $768 million over the same period.
A Transportation Study spokesman said the changes should have no impact on the next four years' infrastructure.
Spending on Interstate highways is controlled by the state Transportation Department, and recent updates to the state’s 12-year transportation plan triggered the changes to the Lehigh Valley's plan.Lehigh Valley Transportation Study
Most of that difference — $598 million — comes from reductions to planned work on Interstate 78.
According to LVTS officials, spending on Interstate highways is controlled by the state Transportation Department, and recent updates to the state’s 12-year transportation plan triggered the changes to the Lehigh Valley's plan.
The updated transportation plan also shows $333 million less short-range spending on projects funded through the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study’s allocation of state and federal transportation funding.
Of that reduction, $122 million — less than half — reappeared as mid-range spending.
Other reductions in funding
Updated plans also show a reduction to “other state and local funding” — a pot of money that includes interstate funding and competitive state and federal grants, according to Matt Assad, spokesman for the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study.
The old plan included $975 million of this “other” funding to spend over the next four years; in the new version, $391 million shifted to mid-range spending, and $449 million more simply disappeared.
In all, other government funding expected to be available to spend over the next four years fell by more than four-fifths or 80% — from $975 million to $135 million.
The short-term part of the transportation plan is particularly impactful.
Transportation planners work to develop the first four years of the plan into a concrete set of projects with dependable funding, called the transportation development program.
But plans for mid-range projects breaking ground between 2027 and 2034 and long-range projects beginning between 2035 and 2049 also were affected.
Planned mid-range funding increased $391 million, in line with shifted “other government funding,” all of which is allocated to a single interstate project.
Long-range spending decreased $65 million.
Among the biggest local changes are nearly $259 million less for a highway and bridge rehabilitation line item.
Several other projects, totaling $122 million, saw funding from the short term shifted to mid-term spending on the same project.
Some projects become 'unmet needs'
In a meeting laying out the changes last month, LVTS officials emphasized that no LVTS-programmed projects were defunded completely.
A handful of improvements to I-78, however, became “unmet needs” without funding.
They included safety improvements to a stretch near Allentown, maintenance to a bridge over Saucon Creek and two local roads in Bethlehem, and rehabilitation of support structures for the arched bridge over Fish Hatchery Road and Little Lehigh Creek.
Officials said the changes are unlikely to make a meaningful difference to spending in the valley.
The changes "should have no impact on the next four years' infrastructure. That’s dictated by the four-year Transportation Improvement Program, which remains intact, and is in the process of being updated.”Lehigh Valley Transportation Study spokesman Matt Assad
The changes "should have no impact on the next four years' infrastructure," Assad wrote in an email.
"That’s dictated by the four-year Transportation Improvement Program, which remains intact, and is in the process of being updated.”
Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, chairman of the LVTS Coordinating Committee, said, “The bottom line, people are going to be seeing orange cones and flag people all over the Lehigh Valley for the foreseeable future.
"It's essentially a large shell game, and I don't think the cuts are going to substantially impact infrastructure construction such that you'll notice.”
A new public comment period prompted by the changes ends Nov. 8; LVTS plans to meet Nov. 8 to collect public comment.
