SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— Until recently, West Scranton’s Euclid Avenue was a two-way street. But as part of the 1.6-million-dollar West Scranton streetscape project, the road has become a one-way onto Main Avenue.
City administrators say the change makes the busy intersection safer, but on Thursday city council sent Mayor Paige Cognetti a letter alleging a violation of city code for not making council aware of the situation until the work was already underway.
Letter from council to Mayor CognettiDownload
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In response, Jessica Eskra, Esq., City Solicitor said this:
Public safety is our priority. Eliminating dangerous intersections is one of many ways we are improving traffic safety in Scranton.
On this project, our engineer is confident that the traffic changes at this intersection are critical for public safety and has provided the Administration and City Council with a comprehensive neighborhood traffic study supporting his professional opinion.
The plans were first unveiled at a public meeting in 2024, thereafter City Council approved the grant application and subsequent contracts related to the project, and City Council was then provided with proposed legislation for traffic changes while temporary traffic changes were in place.
The Administration obtained PennDOT approval prior to submission of the traffic changes to City Council, as we normally do. It would be irresponsible to present a plan that PennDOT would not support or allow us to legally implement.
We look forward to dialogue and collaboration with City Council to implement important and necessary public works projects.
Residents we spoke with who live near the street say the one-way has actually made the intersection more dangerous. They say that many ignore the signs altogether and continue driving as if it were a two way.
A co-owner of Emiliani Trucking, which has been in business for 90 years, says the move could put him out of business.
“This is a residential neighborhood, but we’ve been grandfathered in since 1936. And basically, now, we can’t even pick our trailers up. We have to leave them up in Archbald, Pennsylvania. We can’t bring them to our yard, I can’t even bring them to my yard to work on them,” Jack Emiliani, Co-owner of Emiliani Trucking, said.
Emiliani says accessing his lot, which is located just up the road from the intersection, has become almost impossible after the one-way was implemented because the road can’t accommodate the size of his trucks.
He and his company rely on Euclid Avenue to access Main Avenue and the nearby Scranton Expressway. He says having to store his trucks elsewhere is costing him big time.
“Especially with the price of fuel now, fuel is almost seven dollars per gallon for us now. It costs us x-amount of dollars just to go up and pick our trailers up. It comes right off of our profit for our trip,” Emiliani said.
He’s now hoping to see the road changed back to the way it was.
At a September 15th council meeting, Council President Tom Schuster asked what it would cost to change it back. In response, the administration says restoring it would likely not be feasible, saying the project was partially funded by PennDOT grants and approved per their regulations.
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