Allen Township supervisors addressed growing concerns about FedEx truck traffic in the township during their October 9 meeting. Specifically, concerns that truck traffic has increased on roads explicitly closed to tractor trailers.
Township manager Ilene Eckhart said she has been in contact with the Pennsylvania State Police, but they “can only do so much.”
She has also called the FedEx corporate office to voice residents’ complaints. She said FedEx blamed the GPS map that the drivers use. They gave a timeline of three to five days to have the issue resolved. Resident complaints, she said, are being transmitted.
However, residents are not convinced that the issue will be resolved so quickly.
Many of the drivers for FedEx are not FedEx employees, but independent subcontractors who are not able to afford the advanced GPS equipment a company like FedEx may supply employees. As a result, drivers are relying on phone GPS devices that take them through Fullerton and into Catasauqua via Race Street. Other drivers are finding their way to Weaversville Road.
The widening of the Willowbrook Road Bridge from two to three lanes also has residents concerned about truck traffic making its way deeper into the township.
The bridge is being widened because traffic studies show more car traffic using Willowbrook Road to enter North Catasauqua. However, residents say the bridge will be “an attractive nuisance” that welcomes truck traffic.
“Nobody can stop these trucks from going North [on Willowbrook],” one resident said.
Residents asked supervisors to put more “heat” on FedEx and invite corporate officials to meetings so they can hear residents’ concerns themselves. Residents request proactivity from supervisors.
“FedEx is only the tip of the iceberg,” another resident said.
In other news, a sinkhole on Willowbrook Road alongside Catasauqua High School grows larger as North Catasauqua and Allen Township decipher who owns the property. The sinkhole is in a UGI utility area, close to a gas line, water line, and communication line. Catasauqua High School plans have the land belonging to North Catasauqua, but there are conflicting reports to those plans as well as to the location of the gas line.
Although some residents report the odor of natural gas, UGI told the township the line is not in danger.
The township’s main concern is finding out “who owns what and where.”
