Berks County officials said significant progress is being made to restore and upgrade highway lighting on Route 422 along the West Shore Bypass.
The county is tackling the project in a collaborative effort with PennDOT, Pagoda Electric and Met-Ed. Over the past several months, they have coordinated work to improve visibility in the heavily-traveled section of the highway that has traditionally faced challenges due to outages and damaged infrastructure.
While ongoing obstacles such as vehicle accidents and storm damage continue to create setbacks, officials said the partnership with local agencies and contractors has delivered substantial results. Most notably, the Lancaster Avenue interchange — one of the corridor’s most problematic locations — is now better illuminated.
As part of a lighting upgrade, a light pole was relocated on the eastbound Penn Street on-ramp off of Route 422. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
In just four months, the county and its partners have:
• Reinstalled and energized 12 light poles.
• Replaced 27 damaged or missing luminaries.
• Replaced three burned-out control boxes.
• Repaired and reinstalled wiring in three pull boxes.
• Relocated a pole on the eastbound Penn Street ramp to improve safety.
• Installed nearly 1,000 feet of conduit and wiring to reenergize 50 lights.
• Replaced 27 burned-out lights.
“Teamwork has been key to these improvements,” said Bradley Reinert, Berks County fleet operations manager. “Although the corridor faces regular setbacks from weather and traffic incidents, we’re seeing major progress, and drivers can already see the difference — especially at key interchanges.”
Next steps for the project include:
• Replacing damaged conduit and wires, including triplex, along Route 422 West near the Lancaster Avenue interchange.
• Troubleshooting 31 poles without power.
• Developing a plan to restore power to poles west of the Penn Avenue interchange.
• Replacing four foundations, poles and bases along Route 12.
• Running 650 feet of new conduit and wiring to reenergize 11 poles on Route 12.
• Replacing four accident-damaged poles and two overpass poles on Route 12 near Route 422.