ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Here’s some news for those who travel Interstate-22 in the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s that, you say? There isn\u2019t an Interstate-22 in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s correct, there isn\u2019t, but maybe not for long.<\/p>\n
Because of the increased volume of traffic on U.S. Route 22, the 23-mile portion of the major artery through Lehigh and Northampton counties, it now meets the threshold required to be designated an interstate road.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a very good justification for it,\u201d<\/p>\n
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Becky A. Bradley <\/p>\n
The proposed change was approved at the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study meeting last week.<\/p>\n
It was discussed at the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission\u2019s transportation committee meeting on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Full disclosure: There exists an I-22 in the Deep South, so a different numeric designation would be required should Route 22 become an interstate.<\/p>\n
Planning commission Executive Director Becky A. Bradley said data indicates that 100,000 vehicles travel Route 22 daily \u2014 more than five times that of Interstate-78.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we have a very good justification for it,\u201d Bradley said.<\/p>\n
The process of transitioning Route 22\u2019s designation to an interstate road will involve the planning commission and the state and the U.S. Transportation departments.<\/p>\n
‘Maybe a year’<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s all sorts of geometric implications related to an interstate,\u201d Bradley said. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, [road] shoulders must be much, much wider. And you\u2019re talking about sound walls and ramps that meet interstate standards.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve all driven on Route 22. It needs to become safer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission Executive Director Becky A. Bradley <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if you propose improvements along the routes, they would be different than requirements for a regular highway.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019ve all driven on Route 22. It needs to become safer.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for a timeline, Bradley said neighboring regions that transitioned a state road to an interstate generally took two years to complete.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this could be faster \u2014 maybe a year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Considerations must also be made, Bradley said, for practical things such as better emergency management services because of the increased volume of vehicles.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore vehicles means more incidents,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to be able to get to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. Route 22 runs 650 miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, through the Lehigh Valley and to Newark, New Jersey.<\/p>\n
LVPC is leading the Route 22: Mobility, Safety and Congestion Management Plan for the Lehigh Valley.<\/p>\n
The study, funded by the LVPC and PennDOT, will address safety and congestion while also considering environmental quality, economic development and future technologies for the busy corridor.<\/p>\n
Proposals for the project, which began this summer and is expected to be completed by summer 2026, are due in October.<\/p>\n
Trail map update<\/p>\n
Also Thursay, the transportation committee presented an updated map for the Lehigh Valley Regional Trail Connection Strategy.<\/p>\n
Advocates for trail development met Sept. 12 to identify and share the top trail gaps.<\/p>\n
The map showed existing open trails, conceptual trails in municipal and regional plans and trails under construction, including the South Bethlehem Greenway and water trails.<\/p>\n
The map will help with the examination of growth of the regional trails and help users identify the trails.<\/p>\n
An additional benefit of the updated project will help stakeholders apply for grants for trail projects and to close the trail gaps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Here’s some news for those who travel Interstate-22 in the Lehigh Valley. What\u2019s that, you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,60783,157,2022,2023,539,20223,60784,60785,60786],"class_list":{"0":"post-130805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news","11":"tag-interstate-road","12":"tag-lehigh-valley","13":"tag-lehigh-valley-planning-commission","14":"tag-lehigh-valley-transportation-study","15":"tag-pa","16":"tag-route-22","17":"tag-route-22-accidents","18":"tag-the-road-ahead","19":"tag-traffic-lehigh-valley"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}