LehighValleyNews.com asked readers for input for The Road Ahead, our project examining local traffic and road safety. They rose to the challenge, sharing 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'm wondering if you have any insight as to what plans there are for our disgraceful FOUR-LANE section of Interstate 78 from the Easton interchange to the Hellertown interchange? Four lanes is madness. The road surface is a disgrace.
Given that our average gas price is typically more than 40 cents more per gallon than in neighboring New Jersey — a state which is all over road repair and re-paving. I just don’t get it. — Mark A., Easton
The federal government agrees with you on the road surface, Mark.
Pennsylvania's interstate highway system was underfunded for years and reached a point where federal officials demanded a course correction. As a result, PennDOT re-allocated billions of dollars across the state in 2019, including money that was intended to widen Route 22.
But Route 22's loss should prove to be I-78's gain.
Officials announced $395 million of improvements to the Lehigh Valley section of the highway later that same year. There have been some alterations to those plans since.
PennDOT engineers are currently designing improvements on the interstate between the Route 33 and Hellertown interchanges.
The plans call for upgrading drainage, patching concrete, paving and improving the Hellertown interchange. PennDOT District 5 spokesman Ron Young said officials expect to open the construction bids in the middle of next year.
From Route 33 to the Easton interchange, PennDOT expects to do more concrete patching and paving. It will also add a truck climbing lane on the westbound hill approaching Route 33, Young said.
The whole segment between Easton and Hellertown was conceived as a single project but was recently separated into two different ones due to funding considerations, Young said. There's no estimate on when PennDOT will begin reviewing construction bids for the eastern portion.
But that's not all!
PennDOT intends to reconstruct I-78 between Route 100 and New Smithville in Lehigh County ... just not anytime soon. Engineers are designing that project now, Young said, but reviewing of any bids won't come until 2034.
The work calls for adding truck climbing lanes and reconfiguring the Route 100 interchange.
This project originally called for adding a new interchange at Adams Road. While that's still a long-term intention, it's no longer part of this project due to issues with funding streams, Young said.
He could not provide a timetable on when the Adams Road interchange would move forward.
While reader Mark will likely be excited about the truck climbing lanes, the bigger question may be about the future of the Adams Road interchange.
Many locals in Upper Macungie Township and Weisenberg Township were dead-set against opening the rural community to the influx of traffic that the interchange would create. It's clear that PennDOT hasn't abandoned the project, but the funding issues Young cited aren't likely to improve in the near-term future.
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.
