Scranton City Council unanimously rejected a permanent change of about 100 feet of Euclid Avenue in West Side from two-way traffic to one-way.
The change implemented recently by the administration of Mayor Paige Cognett is necessary to improve safety at Euclid Avenue’s intersection with busy North Main Avenue, she said.
The two roads meet at an irregular angle at the bottom of a hill where traffic often backs up under two bridges that carry a rail line and the McDade Expressway over North Main Avenue. That section of Euclid Avenue used to be a two-way street between busy North Main Avenue and Dorothy Street. The city several months ago made Euclid Avenue one-way from North Main Avenue to Dorothy Street, as part of a West Scranton gateway streetscape project nearing completion at that location. Under this one-way designation, traffic still enters Euclid Avenue from North Main Avenue; but eastbound traffic on Dorothy Street can no longer continue onto Euclid Avenue to get to North Main Avenue.
Cognetti’s administration sought council approval to keep the one-way stretch on Euclid Avenue in place.
But council on Tuesday voted 5-0 to not introduce legislation from the mayor to make the one-way change permanent. Council instead asked the administration to do a traffic study to verify that such a change is needed.
Council President Tom Schuster and members Patrick Flynn, Mark McAndrew, Sean McAndrew and Jessica Rothchild all voted against introducing the ordinance, and then all voted in favor of seeking a traffic study, according to an Electric City Television simulcast and video of the council meeting posted on YouTube. During the meeting, which was council’s first after an August recess, members questioned how the situation to make the one-way permanent came about because they thought it was only going to be temporary during the gateway project.
“Sidewalks were pushed out substantially, essentially making this a forced one-way,” Flynn said. “There’s no possibility right now the way it’s set up to be a two-way. That’s (the one-way direction) already done, the signs are up and here it is in front of us for us to approve. I don’t really understand the timing of that.”
Schuster said he kept the legislation off the council’s weekly meeting agenda for several months to get more information from the administration about it. He noted that legislation passed by council in 2023 about a grant application for the gateway project did not include a one-way street.
“I’d still like the clarification of whether the city applied for it as a one-way or if it was something that was deemed that way by PennDOT,” Schuster said.
Mark McAndrew said council was thrilled about the gateway project but having a permanent one-way section came as a surprise; and it came from resident Les Spindler, who told council that construction workers told him the one-way was permanent.
“We weren’t even thinking about the road itself,” Mark McAndrew said. “I saw one-ways, but I thought they were temporary.”
Rothchild said she also is confused about how it came about. She suggested council ask for a traffic study of the one-way section of Euclid Avenue because it seems that traffic patterns have worsened.
“I was also under the impression that it was temporary,” Rothchild said of the one-way. “It feels like we’re kind of forced to vote on a change that’s already been made.”
Sean McAndrew said returning the two-way traffic, but with a “no left turn” from Euclid Avenue onto North Main Avenue, makes more sense. He advocated for rejection of the legislation to “send a message” to the mayor and her administration.
“It seems like this administration likes to ask for forgiveness instead of permission,” Sean McAndrew said. “I’m all about walkability but we still need driveability.”
Schuster said council also will ask the administration for a cost estimate of putting the sidewalks, curbs and road back to the way they were.
In a response to questions about the matter from The Times-Tribune, Cognetti on Thursday said the routine street direction change was proposed based on accident reports and a detailed traffic study; and her administration will continue to pursue the one-way designation for Euclid Avenue at North Main Avenue “to prevent further, needless traffic accidents at that location.”
A traffic study by city engineer Reilly Associates recommended making part of Euclid Avenue one-way due to the unsafe condition of traffic exiting onto North Main Avenue, where sight distance is limited by the bridge piers looking to the left from Euclid Avenue, the mayor said.
Northbound traffic on North Main Avenue queuing at the expressway ramp traffic signal backs up significantly beyond the intersection of Euclid Avenue, which adds to an unsafe situation, she said. Farr Street’s intersection with North Main Avenue affords a greater sight distance from the bridge and thus is a safer way to enter North Main Avenue, she said.
After the project was under construction, the city became aware of the difficultly that large trucks have in moving through the neighborhood from a trucking company parking area at the other end of Dorothy Street next to the entrance to the Isaac Tripp Elementary School.
The city also received a petition dated May 6, 2026, from approximately 60 residents of the immediate area requesting that Dorothy Street, including the first block of Euclid off North Main Avenue, be made one way westbound up to Everett Street, and Farr Street be made one way toward Main Avenue. Minor improvements on Everett Street to better accommodate the ability of large trucks to travel from Dorothy Street to Farr Street will improve that situation, she said.
“City council‘s first meeting back from recess was a disheartening display of political rhetoric over public safety,” Cognetti said.
A vehicle travels past a construction zone of a West Scranton gateway streetscape project on North Main Avenue and past a decorative stone wall on the intersection of Euclid
Avenue on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A vehicle that traveled under a railroad bridge heads uphill on North Main Avenue in West Scranton past a decorative stone wall at the intersection of Euclid Avenue on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Vehicles travel on North Main Avenue past construction work of a West Scranton Gateway streetscape project on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A railroad bridge crosses over North Main Avenue where a West Scranton gateway streetscape project is underway in the top right part of the photo on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Show Caption
1 of 4
A vehicle travels past a construction zone of a West Scranton gateway streetscape project on North Main Avenue and past a decorative stone wall on the intersection of Euclid
Avenue on Thursday, April 23, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)