Changes made to traffic flow in downtown Jim Thorpe in 2022 have made things more manageable for local law enforcement and event organizers, but shop owners in a neighboring town said it is squeezing the life out of their business district.

Jim Thorpe, in an effort to reduce congestion near the downtown Carbon County parking lot along Route 209, prohibited left turns out of the lot on weekends.

For years, motorists leaving the county lot would pay upon departure. Add to that trying to turn left in the midst of heavy traffic coming from the Nesquehoning side of Route 209 and backups were a common sight.

The move, Council President Greg Strubinger said at a public meeting in September, is working wonders when it comes to keeping vehicles moving.

“Disallowing left turns has received high praise from just about everyone,” Strubinger said. “The success of that move is pretty much self-explanatory if you sit down there on the weekend and look at the difference.”

Not included among those giving the change high praise are members of the Lehighton Downtown Partnership, an organization that promotes local economic development and events in Lehighton’s downtown business district.

By routing vehicles away from Lehighton, Bambi Elsasser, Lehighton Main Street manager, said in August, weekend traffic in the town took a severe downturn. Instead of Lehighton picking up the traffic that leaves Jim Thorpe during heavy tourist weekends, motorists’ GPS units usually take them out of town via Maury Road.

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

Lehighton and Jim Thorpe officials held a Zoom meeting near the end of summer and worked on improvements both sides could live with.

“We got everyone together and I think Lehighton understands our concerns and we understand where they are coming from,” Jim Thorpe Mayor Michael Sofranko said in September. “While blocking the left turn has been working as it was intended to, people are getting confused and they’re doing some pretty interesting things to try and get turned around to go back in the other direction. The Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau has agreed to purchase signs that will help direct people on how to go up over the Route 903 bridge and then come back into town toward Lehighton.”

The new signs 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.

Meanwhile, Jim Thorpe continues to pull in record numbers of visitors, particularly during October when leaf-viewing season is at its peak.

During the weekend of Oct. 15-16, one of the top area attractions, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway rides, added a 6 p.m. trip Saturday in an effort to accommodate visitors. Despite selling over 4,000 tickets, the attraction still had to turn some customers away.

Jim Thorpe Tourism Agency President Michael Rivkin, in a social media post, said while he dislikes the phrase, “I’ve never seen anything like it before,” it certainly fit the scene.

“Lines for the train wrapped from the ticket booth far to the right, blocking the entry to the Visitor Center, and so far to the left as to cross over the entrance to the county parking lot,” Rivkin said. “(Saturday) was very heavy all day for our downtown businesses and even our experienced food vendors at Josiah White Park ran out early. Such was the demand.