Representatives from Vertek Construction Management presented supervisors in East Allen Township with planned roadway improvements to accompany the 450,000 square foot warehouse that is planned at the intersection of Route 329 and Airport Road.
Ronald Check, the president of Vertek Construction Management, attended the July 12 East Allen Board of Supervisors meeting with his engineer to detail the $4 million worth of improvements that will be made to the roads. The plan that they presented to the board included results that were gathered after conducting traffic studies and analyses on the nearby roadways.
Ben Serrecchia, a project engineer for Vertek, outlined the many infrastructure changes that will occur along with the development of the warehouse.
“As we head north on Airport Road, part of our improvements include a right turn and decel lane for entrance to our truck court for our project,” Serrecchia said. “We’re also bringing in a new left turn lane for Keystone Drive. The center lane through would continue up through Airport Road, and as we go further north, we’ve also increased the length for vehicular stacking of the left turn lane to go westbound on Nor-Bath Boulevard.”
“Heading further north we’ve also included a brand new right turn lane at the intersection of Nor-Bath and Airport Road,” he said.
New storm sewer improvements on the east side of Airport Road will also be implemented to encompass the widening that will come with the project, according to Serrecchia. The sewer improvements will include new piping, manholes and other structures.
Serrecchia said they will be increasing the length of the left turn lane for westbound travelers on Nor-Bath Boulevard who will be looking to turn left and travel southbound on Airport Road. Additionally, he pointed out that a new right turn deceleration lane and right turn lane into the project’s driveway, will be located further east on Route 329. He also noted that there will be a new left turn lane for the Keystone Aggregate Products driveway.
For those heading westbound on Route 329, there will be a dedicated left turn lane to turn into the warehouse property, according to the plan.
“If we head westbound coming back on Nor-Bath Boulevard, coming towards our project, there is a dedicated left turn lane to get into our driveway for vehicular traffic. We’re also continuing our through lane up to the intersection with Airport Road and Nor-Bath Boulevard,” Serrecchia said.
The developers also described a full left turn center lane that will extend from Route 329’s left turn lane onto Airport Road to the Vertek project’s driveway on Route 329.
“As part of our improvements and in conversation with PennDot, we originally had what would have been called an hourglass taper between the left turn lane heading southbound on Airport Road and our driveway right turn and left turn into Keystone Aggregate’s property,” Serrecchia said.
“PennDot did not want us to have an hourglass shape to the road, so what we then did was, with their guidance, was from the left turn at Nor-Bath and Airport up to our driveway—it’s a full left turn center lane all the way through.”
There will also be a dedicated right turn lane for eastbound traffic on Route 329 to turn onto Airport Road, Serrecchia said.
In addition to improvements to the intersection at Nor-Bath Boulevard and Airport Road, roadway improvements will also be made to the Locust Road and Airport Road intersection, which will be a “fully-improved signalized intersection,” according to Vertek.
“This intersection to itself contains a brand new dedicated right turn lane if you’re heading westbound on Locust Road. The center, or drive through lane, would become a dedicated left turn lane for southbound traffic onto Airport Road, and the dedicated right would be for northbound traffic onto Airport Road,” Serrecchia said.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger Unangst stressed that tractor trailers will be prohibited from turning left off of Airport Road onto Locust Road.
“That needs to be signed, and signaled, and signed again, and then more signs again about no trucks turning left,” he said.
In other business, the public hearing of the board to consider Rockefeller’s request for rezoning of their airport property will be held on August 16 at 7 p.m. in the Northampton Area High School auditorium.
The board will next meet on July 27 at the municipal building for a regular meeting at 7 p.m.
