PENNSYLVANIA — This week, The Morning Call highlighted the major improvements coming to the Lehigh Valley, thanks to President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The area can expect more than $380 million in infrastructure funding, which will go to roads, bridges and airports. “This is huge,” said Rick Molchany, Transportation Study committee member and Lehigh County’s general services director. Across the state, Pennsylvania will receive more than $15.7 billion in infrastructure investment from the law.
The Morning Call: These Lehigh Valley road projects are moving along thanks to infrastructure bill
With the Lehigh Valley needing more than $4 billion to fund improvements to its roads and bridges over the next 25 years (according to transportation officials), every bit of money helps.
A big boost is expected from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the $1 trillion bill President Joe Biden signed into law in November. The act is expected to generate $550 billion over the next five years for America’s infrastructure projects.
This whittles down to about $380 million for the Lehigh Valley, according to Becky Bradley, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.
“There are so many cool things that are going to be important to managing congestion, making the community safer and making more accessible paths for bikes, pedestrians and the mobility-impaired,” she said.
The money would flow through the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study, the Planning Commission’s sister agency.
“This is huge,” said Rick Molchany, Transportation Study committee member and Lehigh County’s general services director. “It always comes down to money and the questions of how much you have available to spend and what’s the biggest impact you can make with it. We’re always fighting for money, so this bill is a great help.”
After Biden signed the bill, PennDOT and regional planning agencies, such as the LVTS, developed strategies for infrastructure projects, Bradley said.
“We went into hours and hours of meetings right after Thanksgiving to figure out what projects in the Lehigh Valley would continue and where new projects could be added to this new cycle of federal funding,” Bradley said.
The federal government funds 80% of projects on the Transportation Improvement Program list, while the other 20% comes from PennDOT and/or municipalities, Molchany said.
“The good news about the new bill is that it’s going to really advance some projects that wouldn’t have been advanced at all,” Bradley said.
Of the $380 million in funding expected in the Lehigh Valley, PennDOT estimates $100 million will go toward projects such as installing a modern roundabout to improve safety at the intersection of Route 222, Route 863 and Schantz Road in Upper Macungie Township, spokesperson Sean Brown said. This first roundabout in the Lehigh Valley, a $14 million project, should be near completion by December, Brown said.
Other projects include completing upgrades to the Fullerton Avenue interchange in Whitehall Township and rebuilding the Fifth Street Bridge over Route 22 that was removed as part of those interchange upgrades.
“That’s an important route for emergency vehicles,” Bradley said. “They’re also going to finish out more of the Route 22 westbound ramp onto Fullerton Avenue.”
Molchany mentioned two other bridge projects. One is the scheduled April reopening of the Tilghman Street bridge connecting Center City to East Side in Allentown. The bridge has been closed for rehabilitation since January 2018 and the project has endured several big delays, including the recent discovery of more deteriorated concrete.
The other is upgrading the Cementon bridge connecting Whitehall Township in Lehigh County to Northampton in Northampton County.
“That’s a huge project on Route 329,” Molchany said. “That bridge is important because it’s the first east-west corridor north of Route 22 to get motorists to Route 248 and beyond. That bridge is very key and critical to crossing the Lehigh River.”
Added to the list of projects will be improving Route 191 at the Route 22 interchange in Bethlehem.
[…]“We expect $2.7 million more a year in grants through the Federal Transit Administration,” LANTA Executive Director Owen O’Neil said. “That’s about a 30% increase, which is pretty significant. This will help us continue maintaining, repairing and replacing our buses on a good timeline. It will also enable us to expand our fleet with additional buses if needed. We also have plans to renovate our Bethlehem transportation center, as we did recently with our Allentown center, and continue improvements to our facilities.”
[…]Another important part of local infrastructure is Lehigh Valley International Airport.
“As is customary with Airport Improvement Program funding, the new federal money likely will go to top-priority projects such as runway reconstruction or security checkpoint upgrades,” Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority spokesperson Colin Riccobon said.
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