When accidents occur on I-78 in Lower Saucon Township, local volunteer fire companies and EMS services respond, accessing the highway via two emergency access points on Countryside Lane and Raders Lane. However, those access points need to be made safer and modernized, according to Lower Saucon Township Council, which discussed traffic safety on both the busy interstate and Rt. 378 at its Dec. 7 meeting.
In a Dec. 16 letter by township manager Leslie Huhn to Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) District 5-0 Executive Michael W. Rebert, council requested that the emergency access gate on Raders Lane–which may date from when the highway first opened–be replaced with a wider model. The outdated gate is too narrow to accommodate modern emergency vehicles, which are wider, council said.
“In addition, we are aware of emergency access gates in other areas which open automatically with the use of a traffic signal preemption device,” the letter states. “The addition of this capability at both of these gates would further enhance the response time onto the highway.”
Beyond the gates, the driveways that lead to the highway are heavily rutted and difficult for fire trucks, ambulances and other modern emergency service vehicles to traverse, council said, adding that “an additional concern is the bouncing of the vehicles, some of which cost in excess of one million dollars, as they travel through the rutted area.”
Council said it would like the grassy areas paved to help minimize wear and tear to the expensive vehicles.
A third request made in the letter to Rebert is for a traffic study to be conducted, to determine if an emergency traffic signal on Rt. 378 at the entrance to Se-Wy-Co Fire Co. is warranted.
“There are currently no warning signs or signals on Route 378 to alert motorists that fire apparatus may be pulling out onto the highway, and many times traffic has severely impeded their progress and crashes have nearly occurred,” council told Rebert. “We believe that traffic was done more than a decade ago which indicated that signs/signals were not warranted due to the lower traffic volume. As we all know, this volume has greatly increased in the last ten years and we request that a new study be completed and ultimately signage and a signal be installed.”
In a separate letter to Pennsylvania State Police Troop M Bethlehem Barracks Commander Capt. Brian S. Tobin, council urged beefed up patrols of the highway, which has been the scene of numerous accidents recently.
“Traffic enforcement is arguably the most effective method in the prevention of vehicle crashes, and we request that the Pennsylvania State Police increase their efforts along this corridor,” the letter from Huhn said. “We support and encourage all speed enforcement, officer patrol activities and special details that can be afforded to this portion of I-78.”
The miles of interstate in Lower Saucon are patrolled by troopers from the Belfast state police barracks, which is part of Troop M.