PORTLAND, Pa. — The sleepy riverside borough has never been a hotbed of commerce, but the closure of Route 611 more than a year-and-a-half ago has pushed it to a new nadir.
"You don't have to look both ways. I think I've seen eight cars all day," Borough Council President Lance Prator grumbled to a reporter crossing North Delaware Drive, the municipality's main drag and a portion of the state highway.
Prator, a former mayor who describes himself as the town's biggest cheerleader, has long pitched Portland as a quant tourist town just waiting to happen.
Its access to the Delaware River and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area provide it with unrealized potential — another New Hope or Frenchtown in the making, he said.
But even the optimist Prator has reached the end of his rope with the closure.
Getting s*** done?
He noted that state and federal authorities found creative solutions to reopen Interstate 95 in Philadelphia in record time — 12 days after a tractor-trailer crash demolished an overpass. But up in the Slate Belt, state and federal officials seem content to let locals squirm indefinitely, he said.
"It's been nearly two years. When's our s*** getting done?"Portland Borough Council President Lance Prator on the delayed response to repairing Route 611
"It's been nearly two years. When's our s*** getting done?" said Prator, repurposing one of Gov. Josh Shapiro's favorite catchphrases.
A few miles north of the borough, a three-mile stretch of Route 611 along the Monroe County-Northampton County border has been closed in both directions since a rockslide spilled across the road during heavy rain on Dec. 6, 2022.
PennDOT quickly announced its intention to clear the rubble and secure the rockface alongside the road, with plans to reopen to northbound traffic after six-to-eight weeks of construction.
But no construction has started.
National Park Service bureaucracy
While Route 611 is a state highway, PennDOT must receive a special permit to begin emergency repairs on National Park Service land. PennDOT provided its initial plans to the NPS last year but received concerns from the NPS over the amount of rock PennDOT officials hoped to remove, according to a PennDOT news release.
After multiple meetings, including tours of the site where staff used cranes to get an aerial view of the cliffs and rocks, PennDOT has scaled back its proposal and sought approval from both the NPS and the National Highway Administration for its new plans.
The project has also gone through multiple rounds of Native American tribal consultations, which is common practice when construction would change the environment of cultural or religious sites, according to PennDOT.
PennDOT submitted a revised application for a special permit in April but is still waiting on the National Park Service for approval, PennDOT spokesman Ron Young said. On May 22, the Federal Highway Administration approved plans to change the original scope of work that PennDOT proposed last year.
The NPS did not respond to questions regarding the status of the Route 611 project, including when PennDOT may be permitted to begin work and the typical timeframe allotted for special permits to be granted.
'A major inconvenience'
The levels of bureaucracy involved in reopening the highway have done little to soothe locals' frayed nerves. The closed portion of Route 611 is critical infrastructure for travelers in northeast Northampton County.
"Everything has been hush-hush. It's been a major inconvenience."Alexis Lamont, Lower Mount Bethel Township
Alexis Lamont, a Lower Mount Bethel Township mother of two, said she goes to Stroudsburg for everything from groceries to medicine to her children's doctor. But with Route 611 closed, her options are to add 20 minutes onto her trip by taking Route 191 over the Blue Mountain or to pay $6 round trip to cross into New Jersey and take Interstate 80.
And with ongoing construction on I-80, there's no alternate route for people to avoid the lengthy traffic jams, she said.
If that wasn't bad enough, there's been little communication about what's going on with the project, she said. People have been left to guess when or if the highway will reopen.
"Everything has been hush-hush," Lamont said. "It's been a major inconvenience."
Constituents like Lamont have leveled their complaints at their state and federal legislators, who have begged officials to pick up the pace.
In February, U.S. Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman and Reps. Susan Wild and Matt Cartwright, all Democrats who represent the area, issued a joint statement calling on PennDOT and the NPS to reach a solution and end the burden the closure has created on residents, commuters, businesses and first responders.
"We emphasize our collective frustration over this situation and request both PennDOT and NPS come together and find a compromise that satisfies NPS’s statutory requirements, prioritizes safety, and reopens Route 611," they said at the time.
Last week, Wild deferred comment to Cartwright, who has taken point on the matter among federal elected officials. Cartwright spokeswoman Wendy Wilson said the sides have been holding biweekly meetings to keep the process moving; she said they are considering holding a public meeting as well.
Cartwright has also been in communication with state Sen. Rosemary Brown, R-Lackawana/Monroe/Wayne. In January, she pinned much of the holdup on federal officials.
“The state has been ready with the necessary funding and crews to begin work since early 2023,” Brown said in a statement. “We have made the reopening of this roadway a top priority and we are insisting this be a priority of the National Park Service, as well.”
State Rep. Ann Flood, R-Northampton, did not respond to an interview request on the Route 611 closure.
