Lehighton is still advocating for downtown businesses and beyond.

In August, Bambi Elsasser, Lehighton Main Street manager, told borough council that weekend traffic had taken a severe downturn in downtown Lehighton.

Elsasser said the problem was that tourists were being directed to make a right-hand turn when they leave the Carbon County lot in Jim Thorpe, heading away from Lehighton.

Councilwoman Autumn Abelovsky brought the matter back up for discussion at Monday’s council meeting.

Borough Manager Steve Travers said he filed a Right to Know request with Jim Thorpe borough on Sept. 30 for accident reports for Lehigh Avenue and Susquehana Street, as well as for Lehigh Avenue and Jim Thorpe/Carbon County parking lot, for the time period of Jan. 1, 2021 to Sept. 30, 2022.

Travers said after the meeting he received a total of 22 reports from Jim Thorpe; of those, five of them were not in the area, three were inside the parking lot, and four were cars driving on to the train tracks.

He said that left 10 accidents at intersection, eight of which were trucks hitting cars making a turn at Lehigh and Susquehanna, which left two accidents at the intersection.

“At a meeting on Zoom with Jim Thorpe Borough regarding not allowing traffic to turn left out of (the) county lot, I asked if they had done a traffic study as required by PennDOT Highway Occupancy permit; they stated that they had not done a study and had not changed highway occupancy permit, but that PennDOT stated that if they were doing it as a safety measure they could,” Travers said.

Safety issues would include fire, crashes or trees on the road.

“Not allowing cars to turn left out of (the) county lot diverts all the traffic up to the turnpike at 903 and avoiding Lehighton altogether, which is having a negative impact on our downtown business district to the point that some may be closing up shop,” Travers said.

Travers said the next step may be for the borough to reach out to PennDOT.

“The next step may be to PennDOT to clarify their position regarding the Highway Occupancy permit and not needing to follow PennDOT regulations that would be required to do so,” he said. “The county is the owner of the parking Lot and would need to amend their permit to do so.”

Abelovsky said she believes council needs to continue to advocate for the businesses in the downtown, as well as those throughout the borough.

At the request of Elsasser, council in August agreed to place a Discover Lehighton banner at the pavilion at the trailhead.

After that meeting, Elsasser said that motorists’ GPS units are taking them to the Maury Road, and that Lehighton picks up the people that are leaving Jim Thorpe normally and are looking for a place to eat or just something to do as they are leaving Jim Thorpe.

Elsasser said the matter began in the spring, and affects not only Lehighton, but all of Carbon County.

In September, Jim Thorpe officials said their decision to prohibit left turns out of the Carbon County parking lot on to Route 209 on weekends has worked wonders for traffic flow.

While the move helped reduce congestion in one of downtown Jim Thorpe’s busiest areas, it routed vehicles in the opposite direction of Lehighton Borough.

For years, motorists leaving the county lot would pay upon departure, trying to turn left in heavy traffic coming from the Nesquehoning side of Route 209.

Both issues have now been taken care of as the county has added parking kiosks, and left turns out of the lot are not allowed.

The new signs will direct motorists looking to go back toward Lehighton to turn right out of the county lot, turn right to go across the Route 903 bridge, and turn right on the one-way West Front Street before circling around to West Second Street, which will take them back to Route 903, where they can re-cross the bridge and turn back on Route 209.