Lower Saucon Township Council delivered an unequivocal message to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation at their meeting Wednesday, when they voted unanimously to say “thanks, but no thanks” to PennDOT’s request that the township assume responsibility for the two-plus mile section of Riverside Drive colloquially known as “the Narrows.”
An bird’s eye view of the Narrows (Riverside Drive) in Lower Saucon Township
The Narrows parallels the Lehigh River and Norfolk-Southern railroad tracks, connecting Steel City–Lower Saucon’s most densely populated neighborhood–with Redington Road and areas to the east. Township officials have long been adamant that the one-way road remain open, because without it there is only one route out of Steel City, and residents could potentially be trapped if Riverside Drive in the opposite direction were blocked due to flooding or some other type of disaster.
Over the years, maintenance of the Narrows has often been a sore subject between township and PennDOT officials, who have previously requested that Lower Saucon Township assume ownership of it through the state’s Highway Transfer Program.
That was evident Wednesday, when several council members criticized the width of the newly-reopened Narrows, which was closed from June 2015 until September for repairs by PennDOT.
“What they did to Riverside Drive fixing this last fix is…ridiculous,” councilwoman Priscilla deLeon said. “Ten years ago when they (reopened) it at that time, the road was much wider.”
The newly-reopened road is only 8 feet, 6 inches wide; narrower than it was before the most recent closure and significantly reduced in size from what it was decades ago, when school buses were able to travel down it and cars could pass each other.
“They (PennDOT) want to close it and that’s why they did that job,” deLeon said. “It’s not fair that this is happening.”
PennDOT is responsible for the current problems with road–which has frequently been undermined by stormwater runoff coming off the steep hillside it hugs–by neglecting it over the years, deLeon and councilwoman Donna Louder said.
Louder and deLeon are both Steel City residents.
Louder called PennDOT’s maintenance of the Narrows over the years “horrific…neglect,” and said that if the township were to assume responsibility for the road now it would be a “major liability” for them.
The road is not wide enough for fire trucks to negotiate and even snowplows are most likely too wide to squeeze down it now that it’s barely the width of an alleyway, council members said.
Township manager Leslie Huhn said that in terms of widening the current roadway surface, “there’s not much room to go unless you go into the mountain.”
The stormwater coming off the hill–on which IESI Bethlehem Landfill is located on the south-facing slope–is creating “trenches and valleys,” Huhn commented.
The motion to decline ownership of the Narrows passed 5-0 and included a request that PennDOT increase their maintenance of the road in light of the problems it has experienced.
