BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Nothing has played a bigger role in the evolution of the Lehigh Valley than its highways.
By the turn of the 21st century, they brought waves of people who filled the housing developments built in farmers’ fields in Forks, Lower Macungie and East Allen townships.
Schools swelled — and so did property taxes.
Manufacturing has always been a hallmark of this region, whether the product was textiles, metal, microchips or Dixie cups.
As Bethlehem Steel sputtered and began to draw its long, last gasps, it was the foresight of people such as the late Walter Dealtrey, whose vision of an industrial park system and interconnected highways, steered the Lehigh Valley away from a cliff and onto a path of modern-day industrial prosperity.
A lot has happened since Dealtrey died in 2002, at the height of a housing boom. His Lehigh Valley Industrial Park system has grown and flourished.
More business parks have sprung up, and the residential subdivisions that made this region the fastest-growing in Pennsylvania by the time of Dealtrey’s passing have been overtaken by a different type of development:
Warehouses.
“The challenge is to have the right amount of industrial development, have the right amount of job opportunities and growth, without overtaxing the assets of the region."George Lewis, Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp.
This is no secret. Anyone who has turned onto an Interstate 78 on-ramp has witnessed the transformation over the past 20 years.
Starting Monday, LehighValleyNews.com will examine those changes in a special five-part series.
We’ll take stock of where we are today, how we got here and where we’re going.
We’ll spotlight the advantages and the drawbacks, with a focus on the people at the ground level.
We’ll go back to where it all began, and explore not only how the Lehigh Valley landscape has changed, but how our relationships and culture are being shaped by our region’s greatest single growth factor of the past 15 years.
We’ll identify solutions, address how some communities are responding, and look to the future with stories and analysis over the next week.
George Lewis of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation may have hit the nail on the head when he said this:
“The challenge is to have the right amount of industrial development, have the right amount of job opportunities and growth, without overtaxing the assets of the region.
“Because you can, if you're over-developed, get past the tipping point as well, where that also impacts the people who are willing to live there, the quality of life that they're going to find there.”
Are we at that point in time? Getting there? Already past it?
It depends on how you look at it. Or whom you ask.
“Warehoused” is a five-day series that explores the local issue from different angles and perspectives. Take it in and let us know what you think.
You can get an idea of what’s to come — and see all the reporting as it’s published — at this link.
Jim Deegan is editor of LehighValleyNews.com and vice president for news at Lehigh Valley Public Media.
