Several Borough Streets to Be Blocked During 412 Widening

To help prevent traffic displaced by the upcoming Route 412 widening project from diverting onto local roads at the north end of Hellertown, movable barricades will likely be placed at the eastern ends of several streets, Borough Manager Cathy Kichline told Borough Council March 19.

According to Kichline, the plans for traffic control call for barricades to be placed at the east ends of Kichline, Kiernan, Roth and Hess avenues, along Main Street. The barricades would require local traffic to divert to West High Street during the first phase of the project.

However, the plan that was recently outlined at a meeting between borough officials and representatives for the project "does not call for diverting any 412 traffic onto our local roads," Kichline stressed to council.

"They will maintain one lane of traffic at all times and they will provide us with weekly updates that we can get out on our website, and to notify the residents," she added.

The borough has also added a Route 412 Project updates page to its website, to help local residents stay informed.

Kichline said final approval of the traffic plan is contingent upon a PennDOT review.

When asked to comment about the plan, police chief Robert Shupp said "it seemed OK. It seemed like they were willing to work with the residents."

A March 22 letter from  supervisor of campus operations Wally Zimpfer posted on the Hellertown borough website announced that school bus stops currently located at Hess Avenue and Clauser Street and Hess Avenue and Oak Street will be combined and moved to High and Clauser streets because of the restrictions associated with the traffic control plan.

"We realize that this will be an inconvenience and will cause one stop to be overcrowded," Zimpfer wrote. "We ask that you speak with your children about behavior at the stop. They should stay on the sidewalk and not encroach upon private properties at the stop."

Parents with questions about the changes are asked to contact the district's transporation office at 610-838-7001, ext. 1201.

 is scheduled to begin around April 1, and will widen the busy state route from the I-78 interchange north to the Sands casino in Bethlehem.

Some work will also be done along the road in Hellertown, such as the installation of new sidewalks between Kiernan and Wagner avenues.

According to a March 23 PennDOT travel advisory shared by Kichline and posted on the borough's Rt. 412 updates page, preliminary off-road work in preparation for the widening will begin Wednesday, March 28, with restrictions possible on Route 412 between Wagner Avenue in Hellertown and Lynn Avenue in Bethlehem.

The contractor for the work is HRI Inc., according to the advisory.