LehighValleyNews.com asked readers for input for The Road Ahead, our latest project examining local traffic and road safety. They rose to the challenge and shared their takes on road design, traffic patterns, driving trends, public transit and more. Each week, The Road Scholar will review some of the concerns driving Lehigh Valley motorists. Comments from readers have been edited for grammar, space and clarity.
I saw your piece on Lehigh Valley traffic and thought it was a good opportunity to call attention to a dangerous and troublesome intersection near us here — the four-way intersection which connects Broadway, East Susquehanna Street, Emmaus Avenue and Seidersville Road. The busy intersection creates a lot of cross-traffic, which becomes a problem when more than two or three cars are backed up at the stop sign heading south from Broadway. Unfortunately, I can't think of any easy way to resolve this without a major rework of the entire intersection, but maybe there is someone out there who can? — Sean S.
I tense up just thinking about this spot.
Most of it functions as a normal four-way intersection with stop signs, but southbound traffic on Broadway can head west on Emmaus Avenue without stopping if the traffic isn't backed up badly.
Westbound traffic actually has two stops signs here — one at the four-way stop and another maybe 150 feet away where Broadway becomes East Susquehanna Street. As a result, some traffic has to stop twice in quick succession, creating traffic.
And while it's not the busiest area — Broadway averages about 15,000 vehicles a day, according to PennDOT — this intersection gets its fair share of crashes. PennDOT reported 30 accidents in the area in the last five years, most of which occurred in the four-way intersection or on Broadway just north of the ramp to Emmaus Avenue.
The good news is the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study has plans to address this intersection. The bad news is those improvements won't be coming anytime soon.
The good news is the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study has made plans to address this intersection. The bad news is those improvements won't be coming anytime soon.
The Lehigh Valley Long-Range Transportation Plan calls for converting the intersection into a roundabout at a projected cost of about $6 million.
But there's not much other data available on the project because it's so far off. It's not included in the 12-year plan, which means engineers won't begin design work until 2037 at the earliest (the plan was released in 2024).
I am not a trained engineer, but this intersection seems like a good candidate for a roundabout.
It looks like there's enough room to construct one, and it would eliminate that double-stop for westbound traffic. Many readers have expressed their dislike of roundabouts to me, but I suspect the real issue is a lack of familiarity.
PennDOT has added roundabouts to Route 222, including one at Schantz Road, that have improved traffic flows and decreased accidents.
Still, the timeframe has to be disheartening news for people who regularly travel through here. But it also speaks to the glut of transportation needs in the region and the limited funding available to address them.
The same plan identified about $7.4 billion of transportation needs over the next 25 years but only $4.8 billion to pay for it all. PennDOT can't get to all of these, and even if it can, some will have to wait.
There's an argument that Salisbury Township is getting the short end of the stick. The Long-Range Transportation Plan calls for about $41.5 million to go toward infrastructure projects in the township through 2050, but the study also identified more than $100 million of unfunded needs in the township.
Almost half of that unfunded amount would go toward repairing the bridge carrying Interstate 78 over Fish Hatchery Road; another $24.6 would go toward I-78 safety improvements between Emmaus Avenue and Route 309. (This project includes portions in Allentown and Upper Saucon Township as well.)
EDITOR'S NOTE: Want to be plugged in to all things traffic and transit in the Lehigh Valley? Sign up for Tom Shortell's weekly Road Scholar newsletter and get it delivered to your in-box every Tuesday. Better yet, tell him what you're thinking — or what you want to know — at toms@lehighvalleynews.com.
