Direction sought on clogged crossroad

By Nicole Radzievich

The Morning Call

March 31, 2008

Critics of the one-way street proposal for south Bethlehem's Five Points intersection scored a small win last week when City Council directed Mayor John Callahan 's administration to consider other options first.

But how much of a chance there is to avoid turning sections of Wyandotte and Broadway into one-way streets is still unclear.

Public Works Director Michael Alkhal said he is meeting with traffic experts to take ''an honest look'' at the alternatives council discussed last week, but he remains ''skeptical'' that the suggestions will work.

While those alternatives were never studied in depth before, the city's experts four years ago had dismissed other options at first glance because they didn't meet the objectives, Alkhal said.

In addition to easing congestion, the objectives of the $2 million project include increasing parking and improving pedestrian safety in that south Bethlehem neighborhood.

''We're going to take a more detailed look at these things and see if they'll work,'' Alkhal said.

How detailed those studies will be must still be determined.

In a recent interview, Callahan wondered how the city was going to pay for studying such ''11th hour'' suggestions.

But Councilman Michael Schweder, who proposed the resolution that calls for further study, pointed to the $500,000 that council approved to fund the improvements or some federal money earmarked for blight elimination in that neighborhood.

''I think there is great division within our community about this problem and what the solution should be,'' Schweder said. ''We need to look at every option.''

Some of the alternatives suggested at the public hearing include removing the left-hand turn lane at the McDonald's restaurant there and making the streets one-way during rush hour only.

''How the administration would implement the resolution is a good question,'' said Council President Robert Donchez, who opposed the resolution.

Because the resolution lacks the teeth of an ordinance, Donchez said he expected the administration to have some latitude in implementing the council's directive.

Donchez said he expected the administration to have some sort of report for council next week.

The resolution comes near the end of a four-year city debate on how to ease the congestion and make the streets an intersection that includes Route 378, a major crossing of the Lehigh River.

During rush hour, traffic sometimes backs up onto the Hill-to-Hill Bridge and traffic coming from other direction crawls through the intersection. Some argue the congestion was exacerbated six years ago when a left-hand turn lane was added for the McDonald's there.

The city contracted a study of the intersection, solicited community feedback and presented a plan in 2004. Council wasn't persuaded to act.

Then last fall, Callahan announced that he had negotiated a public-private partnership to fund the road improvements. St. Luke's Hospital-Fountain Hill, the Sands BethWorks and state Department of Transportation, which each ante up $500,000. The city would also put in its share.

Callahan made the case that, while the plan isn't perfect, it's the city's best option to avoid gridlock.

At last week's meeting, six of seven council members supported the city's $500,000 contribution for the project, but four members insisted that the city first study alternatives that the public and they had brought up at the meeting.

Callahan called some of the alternatives ''dangerous'' to drivers and something the PennDOT would never go for.

PennDOT spokesman Sean Brown said he could not confirm that statement.

''We haven't received anything from Bethlehem yet, and I can't comment on it,'' Brown said.

He said other questions -- like how much removing a left-hand turn lane would cost -- would have to wait until after Bethlehem makes a formal request.

Council is scheduled next week to take its final vote on the funding ordinance that would allow the city to move forward with the Five Points improvements if the alternatives don't work.

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