LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. – It probably won’t surprise most drivers who brave Route 22 during rush hour- or any hour- to learn that the highway is in rough shape.

An ongoing study has identified a number of concerns and deficiencies along the 23-mile stretch from I-78 in Upper Macungie Township, Lehigh County, to the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border in Easton.   

On Wednesday, Chris Stanford from Michael Baker International, the engineering firm spearheading the study, gave an update on those discoveries during a meeting of the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study (LVTS), the Metropolitan Planning Organization of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC).

The study is part of LVPC’s larger, work-in-progress “Route 22: Mobility, Safety and Congestion Management Plan,” known informally as “What to Do With 22,” with a goal of, yes, figuring out what to do about the congested thoroughfare, which is now more than 70 years old.

Route 22: quick stats

The LVPC has previously said about 107,000 vehicles use Route 22 every day, on average, and about 10,500 of those vehicles are tractor-trailers. Route 22 is the Lehigh Valley’s busiest highway, by far. Route 33 is a distant second.

According to data provided by Stanford, the Route 145 corridor is Route 22’s busiest, seeing about 91,000 vehicles a day. Volume decreases as you head east, with the Route 611 corridor seeing the lowest number of vehicles at about 34,000.

Only about 7 percent of the overall traffic uses Route 22 from one end to the other. 

Issues to address

Stanford said the data they’ve collected so far shows that 29 of Route 22’s bridges are rated as being in “fair” condition. Only four are rated as “good.” Six of the bridges have a vertical clearance that’s lower than what’s recommended.

Additionally, there are 16 locations where interchange ramps are too close together, and 24 of the highway’s acceleration ramps and 13 of its deceleration ramps do not meet current standards.

The road’s shoulders aren’t wide enough, either; Route 22 has four-foot shoulder widths on the left, and eight to 10-foot shoulders on the right. The current recommendation is 12 feet.

In addition, the vast majority of Route 22’s center median barriers and guiderails are not up to snuff. “This doesn’t mean that there are tragic safety issues out there today, but it just shows that since 22 is an older facility, things have been built to different design standards over the years and over the decades, and things just don’t meet the current standards that are out there today,” Stanford said.

Between the years 2020 and 2024, there were 2,050 crashes on Route 22’s mainline and 117 crashes on its ramps. When comparing those stats to similar highways in Pennsylvania, about 60 percent of Route 22’s westbound lane miles exceed the average crash rate for the state, and more than 78 percent of the eastbound lanes see more crashes than average. 

Silver linings

Grumble all you want about the traffic congestion and white-knuckle experience of getting on and off the highway, but Route 22 is generally a smooth ride. 17 percent of the highway has a pavement condition rated as “excellent,” and 75 percent of it is rated as “good.” Stanford reported.

Also, some improvement projects are already in the design phase, including a planned replacement of the Route 145 (MacArthur Road) bridge, with construction slated to begin in 2029; and the widening of the highway from four lanes to six near the Fullerton Avenue interchange, a $34 million project on the calendar for 2030.

What happens next?

The study, launched in January, is at about its midway point, Stanford said. “(Our) goals for this project include understanding the issues around the 22 corridor and establishing a long-term vision for improvements that include safety enhancements, corridor-wide operational improvements, as well as leveraging technology to improve travel times in the corridor.”

That includes developing a new list of short-term, middle-term, and long-term projects, and deciding which projects will be prioritized over others. 

Of course, nothing will be fixed for free. A capital action plan is on the to-do list for the fall, and a final report is expected in November, Stanford told LVTS.