Colesville Road Resident Fears Traffic from Planned Development

At Lower Saucon Township Council's March 7 meeting, a Colesville Road resident and "concerned citizen" told council she fears traffic will overrun her neighborhood once the "Old Saucon" development along Route 378 in Upper Saucon Township is completed.

Sandra Miller, who is a member of the Saucon Valley School Board but spoke as a resident of the township, said she has lived on the "residential, small road" since 1968. She said she has watched as its character has changed, in large part due to motorists who use it as a short-cut between Black River Road and Route 378.

The construction of a bank and restaurant at the southeast corner of Colesville Road and Route 378 will result in more traffic, she said, and the fact that access to the businesses will be from Colesville has nearby residents concerned.

The fact that the businesses will be located in Upper Saucon Township means that Lower Saucon Township "will only have the impact and no benefit," she said, referencing real estate taxes.

Miller also expressed frustration over what she characterized as a failure on the part of township officials to adequately notify residents about a council-approved waiver that paved the way for the development to be built on the fringe of the neighborhood.

"We, as residents, were not notified," she said. "Imagine my concern when I find out that the entrance will be right in Lower Saucon…and we have no further say about what will occur there."

Miller said she was worried that the Colesville entrance would be a major entrance to the Old Saucon development, which will include single family homes and a shopping center further south along Route 378.

However, council solicitor B. Lincoln Treadwell assured her that the access road from Colesville is only supposed to be for the bank and restaurant.

"If they change the plans that this council waived…then the waiver’s no good," he said. "If they decide to take that entrance that goes to a restaurant and bank (and make it a through road)…then they don’t have a waiver for that."

Regardless, Miller said limited access via that entrance will still result in considerably more traffic on Colesville.

"I am not saying I’m against this development," she asserted, but "(traffic) should be coming in and out off of 378."

According to Miller, four school bus stops are located along the curvy road, which has a posted speed limit of 30mph.

In conjunction with the construction of the development, a traffic light is supposed to be installed at Colesville Road and Route 378, but Miller seemed cynical about its potential benefit to the neighborhood at this point.

Noting that her father had been requesting the installation of a light at that intersection for "decades," she said she "was told that we should be pleased, that now we will at least have our light."

"The pleasure will really not be there," she added.

Council president Glenn Kern said he believes that majority of traffic entering and exiting Old Saucon will do so at "the other end of the development."

But council vice president Tom Maxfield expressed a desire to be proactive after hearing Miller explain her concerns.

"I hate seeing neighborhoods destroyed like that, and traffic can do it so fast," he said, adding that he fears noise from trucks making late night deliveries to the restaurant could become a quality of life issue. "Let’s look at Colesville Road and see what we can do to keep it residential."

Maxfield said the plans for Colesville Road would be discussed with the township's engineering firm, Hanover Engineering, before the next council meeting.

The next township council meeting will be held Wednesday, March 21 at 7pm in .