Route 33, Route 209 could become interstate highways

Route 22 isn’t the only Lehigh Valley area highway that could be designated as an interstate in an effort to get more money for improvements.

PennDOT and the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study also want to upgrade Route 33 and a section of Route 209 in Monroe County as traffic increases along with the Valley’s growth. It’s a process that will take several steps before any red, white and blue signs are erected.

The first one was taken last month when all three roads were submitted to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering.

The proposals were rejected by the board, which also votes on interstate highway numbers, because of “deficiencies in geometrics.”

That means there were parts of each highway that didn’t meet the standards for interstate highways, PennDOT District 5 spokesperson Sean Brown said.

“As part of the submittal, the state DOTs are required to review and identify any portions of the submitted roadway characteristics — speed, geometry, underclearance, etc. — that doesn’t meet AASHTO’s standards,” Brown said in an email. “For the three roadways submitted, AASHTO has determined that PennDOT addresses or provides a documentation/plan that will address these sub-standard categories.”

He said the applications will be resubmitted in the spring.

If AASHTO gives its OK, the applications would move to the Federal Highway Administration for final approval. The reason for the extra scrutiny is because interstate highways are eligible for additional highway funding that can be used for such things as widening to handle increased traffic.

Becky Bradley, executive director of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, said Route 33 is being considered because it is a high-freight corridor that connects the Valley with Interstate 80. It also has high traffic volumes near its southern end around its interchange with Route 22.

The latest LVTS traffic numbers show a daily average of 87,516 vehicles use Route 33 between Hecktown Road and Route 248 in Lower Nazareth Township.

The section of 209 is the stretch that is merged together with Route 33 for a few miles south of Stroudsburg. It has 48,000 daily trips, according to a PennDOT map.

Bradley said Route 22, which carries more than 110,000 vehicles daily between Airport Road and the Lehigh River bridge, was eligible for interstate highway status because of its high traffic count. That possibility was found in the recent functional classification system for all of the region’s highways by the LVTS.

“We understand that any interstate designation is a process,” Bradley said. “Route 22 is the region’s highest priority for designation because of the traffic volumes, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested in 33 too. That was the overall summary from the LVTS when they acted to forward the roadway functional classification system updates to PennDOT to begin the process.”