MAXATAWNY TWP., Pa. \u2013 A stretch of highway connecting Reading and Allentown is facing some construction that could impact travel for several months.<\/p>\n
Long lines of traffic paired with construction vehicles are a driver’s nightmare.<\/p>\n
“This is to improve safety and mobility through this section of roadway,\u201d said Sean Brown, with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.<\/p>\n
That’s the goal PennDOT asks drivers to be patient for as work continues.<\/p>\n
“We just started a new phase of construction, and that involves the closing of Long Lane between Route 222 and Topton Road,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
This closure, starting in less than a week, will cause some traffic jams until completion.<\/p>\n
“Local access will be maintained, but through-traffic will be detoured utilizing Route 222 and Topton Road,” Brown said.<\/p>\n
By removing traffic signals and installing roundabouts, highway officials say the journey across this stretch of highway in Maxatawny Township will be much smoother.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
“I like them \u2014 the ones down there they seem to be working,\u201d David Hoover of Lancaster said about the roundabouts.<\/p>\n
Officials say they’re safer than signalized intersections.<\/p>\n
“While they still do have crashes, they are minor crashes \u2014 some fender benders,\u201d Brown said. \u201cWe’re really eliminating your major injury and your fatal crashes with the roundabouts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The roundabouts also address traffic backups on this road that sends drivers through Berks County, Lehigh County and beyond.<\/p>\n
“We noticed that traffic does move much more efficiently through the old intersections that used to be signalized intersections,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThere used to be a lot of long backups, especially during your busy times of the day.”<\/p>\n
Still, not everyone is on board, like those who work along the stretch.<\/p>\n
“People\u00a0don’t know where to go. It’s also a high-traffic destination for travelers, and they always stop in here, asking which way to go,\u201d said Sophia Husko, a Rutter’s employee. \u201cWe can’t provide them straight answers because we don’t even know what they’re doing.”<\/p>\n
The project began in April of last year and is expected to be completed by September of 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MAXATAWNY TWP., Pa. \u2013 A stretch of highway connecting Reading and Allentown is facing some construction that could…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,4630,433,6650,3431,128,130,129,31013,7878,6772],"class_list":["post-190936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-detour","tag-lehigh-county","tag-maxatawny-township","tag-penndot","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-road-construction","tag-roundabout","tag-traffic-jam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190936","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=190936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}