Money to pay for the final phase of Coopersburg’s multi-phase streetscape improvement project was received this week in the form of a $1 million federal grant. Borough Manager Tim Paashaus said the final phase will transform three blocks of Main Street between Thomas and Tilghman streets with the addition of lighting, crosswalks and handicapped ramps.
The work that has been taking place to improve pedestrian access in downtown Coopersburg has been ongoing for years, but it will be coming to an end in the not-so-distant future and a grant the borough just received will help pay for the final phase.
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) officials announced Wednesday that the Borough of Coopersburg will receive $1 million in federal Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside (TASA) funding to pay for traffic, pedestrian and bicycling improvements to Main Street that are part of the borough’s multi-phase streetscape plan outlined in June 2015. The TASA grant money will pay for two pedestrian crosswalk intersections; curb, sidewalk and Americans With Disablities Act (ADA) improvements; pedestrian lighting installation; parallel parking designation and bicycling “sharrows.”
“This streetscape plan on three blocks completes the ‘missing link’ of one-mile stretch of Main Street providing (the) pedestrian, bicycle and motoring (public) safe travel from the south to the north of the Borough,” the PennDOT announcement observed.
Coopersburg Borough Manager Tim Paashaus confirmed Friday that the grant funding announced this week is for improvements to “the final section of Main Street between Thomas Street and Tilghman Street.” He said that much of the ongoing work downtown–which is part of the larger project–should be completed over the next two months.
“The sections that are already complete or (are) pending completion by July are a portion of West State Street, Main Street from Fairmount Street to Thomas Street and the majority of Station Avenue,” Paashaus said.
Work on Coopersburg’s new Town Center Park has been continuing at a break-neck pace. The new plaza located between Borough Hall and the Coopersburg Fire Company at State and Main streets will be a focal point for events held downtown.
Construction workers who are helping to build the new Town Center Park in Coopersburg wrap up for the day on Friday.
The borough’s new Town Center Park at State and Main streets should be finished by the end of May, he said, and the Saucon Rail Trail and Liberty Trolley Trail “are basically complete, but we will be adding amenities.”
Benches along those trails are available for sponsorship for $750 per bench, he noted.
The final phase of the project, according to Paashaus, will hopefully go to bid in the near future “with completion in 2023-2024.”
“There will need to be design/bid plans and environmental/historic clearances,” he explained. “Due to this being the final section of Main Street, the majority of decisions will just match the other phases.”
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Orange safety cones and temporary mesh safety fencing have become a familiar sight in downtown Coopersburg, where streetscape improvements have meant disruption for residents and visitors over the past couple years. Much of the current phase should be completed by July, borough manager Tim Paashaus said Friday. Pictured above: A section of new sidewalk is under construction at Main and Fairmount streets, at the borough’s northern boundary with Upper Saucon Township.
Above, traffic moves south on Main Street near Thomas Street in Coopersburg Friday afternoon. A $1 million grant the borough has received will help pay for planned streetscape and pedestrian improvements along three blocks of Main Street from Thomas south to Tilghman Street. Borough manager Tim Paashaus said the work could be completed in 2023-2024.
