Improvements to the antiquated interchange between Route 22 and Route 191 in Bethlehem Township are coming, but completion is still years away.
Representatives from PennDOT updated the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study on the project at Wednesday’s joint Technical and Coordinating committee meeting. The project, estimated at $115 million, is moving into its preliminary engineering phase. Final design is scheduled for completion in 2031 with construction to be finished in fall 2034.
Besides widening Route 22 for longer acceleration and deceleration lanes, traffic flow is expected to improve on Route 191 by combining separate intersections with Broadhead Road and eliminating weaving issues for north- and southbound drivers between the on ramps as they attempt to navigate lane drops.
PennDOT District 5 Executive Chris Kufro said the work would not only improve the Route 22 expressway, but is also part of a series of projects to help traffic flow on Route 191, a mostly two-lane road that carries 12,000-18,000 vehicles a day through some narrow intersections between Bethlehem and Nazareth.
There is a project to improve the intersections with Newburg Road and Route 946 to help with truck movements. Also ongoing is an engineering study on the disjointed intersection with Route 191 and Hecktown Road. Both of those are in Lower Nazareth Township.
“The project at Newburg Road is going to improve safety and mobility of that intersection and also the intersection [at Route 946] just to the north of that,” Kufro said. “We also have an engineering study going on at Hecktown Road and 191. What we’re doing with that is looking at short-term and long-term solutions on how to improve safety mobility through that intersection.”
On Route 22, the westbound acceleration and the eastbound deceleration lanes will be lengthened, stretching them across bridges over Route 191 and Monocacy Creek and the Norfolk Southern Railroad track. To accomplish this, the bridges will be replaced with a higher clearance for the railroad.
Scott Harney said on behalf of Bethlehem Township that he was thankful for the project.
“Route 191 is the highest crashed location in the township,” Harney said. “We’ve been taking a lot of steps to try and improve that short term, but this is the long term solution. So I’m very thankful.”