BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 The Linden Street traffic conversion project is speeding ahead, no two ways about it.<\/p>\n
Well, that depends on how you look at it.<\/p>\n
Yes, Bethlehem Planning Commission on Thursday unanimously voted to advance the project to city council.<\/p>\n
As for no two ways about it, well, there will, indeed, be two ways. <\/p>\n
The one-way corridor will be transformed into north and south motoring upon the project\u2019s targeted completion in September 2026.<\/p>\n
The Linden Street conversion will extend from East Fairview Street to East Church Street.<\/p>\n
The project will cost just under $196,000 and is scheduled to begin in Spring 2026.<\/p>\n
“This is a great plan.”<\/p>\n
Robert Melosky, Bethlehem Planning Commission chair<\/p>\n
The plan design will be reviewed by a number of city boards before final approval is considered.<\/p>\n
Two engineers from Pennoni Associates Inc., a multi-disciplined engineering and design consulting firm, presented preliminary designs for the conversion to the planning commission Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great plan,\u201d Planning Commission Chairman Robert Melosky said. \u201cWhen Bethlehem Steel was still active, [a one-way street] was a great plan. But now, from a progress standpoint, this is a great idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘High traffic’<\/p>\n
The conversion will include:<\/p>\n
Street repaving12-foot travel lanes10-feet-wide parallel parkingTraffic signal modifications at Goepp, Union and Broad street intersectionsNew signal poles and mast arms for northbound traffic at Linden and Broad streetsConstruction of ADA-compliant curb ramp, adjusting of lane usesPavement markingsRemoval of One Way and Do Not Enter signs.<\/p>\n
\u201cLinden Street has high traffic,\u201d said Earl W. Armitage, III, an engineer out of Pennoni\u2019s Bethlehem location. \u201cAbout 13,000 vehicles a day use the street, and 3,600 when you get past Broad and Market.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pennoni presentation stressed the project goals, including reducing vehicle speeds, travel time, minimization of on-street parking.<\/p>\n
In also included improving walkability and wayfinding, or understanding how to get from Point A to Point B that involves route decision, monitoring the route and recognizing the destination.<\/p>\n
‘Hasn’t made sense in decades’<\/p>\n
The project is included in the Lehigh Valley\u2019s four-year Transportation Improvement Program.<\/p>\n
Funding support for the Linden Street transformation was secured in July when the city got a $3.7 million state grant for infrastructure, pedestrian and bike-safety improvements.<\/p>\n
The Linden Street project received $1.8 million of that grant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one-way traffic was put in place to move workers to and from Bethlehem Steel. That traffic pattern hasn\u2019t made sense in decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds<\/p>\n
The project falls within Bethlehem\u2019s Complete Streets initiative to enable safe access for all users, including motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders of all ages and abilities.<\/p>\n
At a July news conference announcing the state grants, Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds said the time has come on Linden Street for \u201ca safer, more connected and more community friendly approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe one-way traffic was put in place to move workers to and from Bethlehem Steel,\u201d he said. \u201cThat traffic pattern hasn\u2019t made sense in decades.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 The Linden Street traffic conversion project is speeding ahead, no two ways about it. Well,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,13966,154,629,2928,2024,17004,17005,17002,17003],"class_list":["post-26019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-mayor","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-bethlehem-planning-commission","tag-j-william-reynolds","tag-linden-street-conversion","tag-linden-street-traffic-plan","tag-linden-street-two-way-traffic","tag-pennoni-associates","tag-transportation-improvement-program"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26019","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=26019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}