PALMER TWP., Pa. – Detours and delays await drivers in Northampton County.<\/p>\n
A major bridge replacement is set to begin next month on Route 33 and PennDOT is encouraging drivers to plan ahead before hitting the road.<\/p>\n
“We understand it’s an inconvenience,” said Sean Brown, PennDOT press officer.<\/p>\n
The more than $20-million-dollar project to repair the bridges overlooking the Bushkill Creek on Route 33 has been ongoing since 2023.<\/p>\n
But the long-time coming replacement is just shy of a month away.<\/p>\n
Brown said a traffic impact is on the horizon.<\/p>\n
“We will be taking northbound 33 traffic and reducing it to one lane,” said Brown.<\/p>\n
Starting July 10th, between the Tatamy and Stockertown interchanges, drivers can anticipate detours, delays and longer travel time until mid-August.<\/p>\n
“We will be closing the 33-entrance ramp from the Tatamy Main Street intersection, and also the 33-exit ramp in Stockertown,” Brown said.<\/p>\n
The repairs stem from continuous sinkhole problems in the area.<\/p>\n
“It’s aggravating,” said Victoria Cooper of Belfast.<\/p>\n
The five-week long lane shift has the potential to create headaches and pose longer commutes for drivers who rely on Route 33, like Cooper.<\/p>\n
“This is a daily commute,” said Cooper. “Minimum of five times a day, between my kids with school work. It’s a lot.”<\/p>\n
But Brown said crews need to move the traffic away from the northbound side to be able to work on the old bridges.<\/p>\n
He said it’s a temporary, inconvenient solution for the bridges that need a permanent fix.<\/p>\n
“You need to give yourself more time to get where you’re going. So really just know before you go,” said Brown.<\/p>\n
PennDOT said the entire project is anticipated to be finished by Fall 2026.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/6a287b3ac38cc.image.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
WFMZ-TV | Jenny McCain<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PALMER TWP., Pa. – Detours and delays await drivers in Northampton County. A major bridge replacement is set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,44287,29498,21340,4630,434,3431,6654,37038,26299,94174],"class_list":["post-214972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-bridge-replacement","tag-bushkill-creek","tag-commute","tag-detour","tag-northampton-county","tag-penndot","tag-road-closure","tag-route-33","tag-sinkhole","tag-traffic-delay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214972","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=214972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}