Officials plan for turnpike detour
Local emergency response teams representing Monroe County, Kidder and Polk townships, Lehighton Ambulance Association and numerous area fire companies met this week to learn about a turnpike closure scheduled for the last weekend in September.
Todd Leiss, traffic incident management coordinator for the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, discussed the project at a meeting at the Albrightsville Volunteer Fire CompanyThe Pennsylvania Turnpike is planning a 55-hour shutdown between the Lehigh Valley and Mahoning Valley interchange to replace the two bridges that span Crackersport Road in South Whitehall Township. Route 476 will be closed to through traffic for the entire 18-mile stretch in both directions.The detour will go into effect at 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 29 and is scheduled to be completed by 4 a.m. Monday, Oct. 2 That is if there are no problems during the construction."Once the detour goes into place, the demolition of the existing bridges will start and there will be no turning back until the job is complete," Leiss said."That means if there are problems sliding the new bridge into place, the detour could go beyond 4 a.m. Monday morning."DetoursTwo detours are being proposed. The local detour will use Routes 22, 33 and 209. The through-route will also have travelers being directed to Interstate 80. The local detour is 60 miles long, while the through-detour is 67 miles.Regardless of the detour taken, the construction will add a minimum of one hour to a trip, providing there are no unforeseen traffic issues.These possible travel issues were the reason behind the meeting Monday evening."We need to know of any planned activities or festivals that might be planned for that weekend that would add to the problems," Leiss said. "Is there anything we need to know, anything special going on or special areas of concern?"Kidder Township Police Chief Matthew Kuzma mentioned the intersection off-ramp from Interstate 80, which crosses over Route 940 to the turnpike. This is the point where through traffic will be entering and exiting the turnpike at the Pocono Exit 95."That weekend is a Penn State home game and we see congestion there regularly on home game weekends," Kuzma said.Leiss said that was a good example of an area that would be targeted with extra traffic control support.Another area of concern discussed was Route 209 in front of Pleasant Valley High School. Pleasant Valley does not have a football home game that Friday night, but there are home soccer games planned during the scheduled detour.Impact to school routesIf the detour extends past the 4 a.m. planned reopening on Oct. 2, school bus routes will be impacted.Pleasant Valley Superintendent Dave Piperato was unaware of the detour and planned to immediately notify school staff and management of First Student, the bus company used by the district, to get involved in the discussion."Accidents along the detour can cause major delays, which is why we are here to discuss ways to best handle these types of problems," Leiss said. "We all know that in the case of a fatal accident, roads can be closed for four or five hours, maybe longer."Another concern is the time that the closure will add to ambulances traveling between the areas north of the construction zone heading for the trauma center at Lehigh Valley Hospital. Some suggestions were using air-medical transport.Jarod Yeastedt, a supervisor from Lehighton Ambulance Association suggested that the ambulance service might still be able to use the turnpike southbound to the Lavans Road access gate to get around the construction.Leiss agreed, but warned that the turnpike repair crews will be taking advantage of the empty roadways to make repairs in the stretch of road that is closed to traffic. Leiss suggested that the ambulance crews make contact with the turnpike trouble desk in Highspire to alert maintenance crews of their approach."While this is a turnpike project," Leiss said. "It is safe to say that it is going to affect off turnpike more than on."According to Leiss, the turnpike is planning to hand out route cards and use digital signs to alert drivers and to suggest that travelers stick to the proposed detour route. There will be extra traffic controls in place along the detour route to try to keep traffic moving as smoothly as possible.State police assistanceThe turnpike is turning to the Pennsylvania State Police to help wherever possible with traffic control and to help move accidents off the roadway as quickly as possible. Leiss said extra wrecker crews will be on standby to help clear the roads.Trooper David Peters says that the state police have been working with the turnpike to put a plan into effect for the weekend closure."There have been a number of discussions, but we are more than a month out and the planning is ongoing," Peters said. "We will continue to plan for traffic problems and manpower needs."Peters expects more information will be available to local travelers as the date draws closer.One issue that was also pointed out during Monday's information session was the ongoing lane closure on Interstate 80 eastbound between Blakeslee and the Route 380 split.According to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation press officer Sean Brown, that project is expected to continue through the end of the year."We are looking into the matter and will have to assess if there is anything that can be done during the weekend turnpike closure to try and alleviate any additional problems that the Route 80 lane restrictions might cause," said Brown. "The discussions are ongoing."Additional information regarding the bridge project can be found at
http://bit.ly/2fyz6AI.Turnpike officials are working to get the information out and would like to see travelers plan to avoid the area altogether on the weekend of Sept. 29.