Politics & Government

Mayor: Post-Fireworks Gridlock 'Unacceptable'

Callahan will meet with ArtsQuest officials Thursday to discuss traffic control at Musikfest.

Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan said he has planned a Thursday meeting with ArtsQuest officials to discuss the post-fireworks show congestion that left some people stalled in South Bethlehem traffic for up to an hour on Monday night.

The mayor said he was personally affected by the gridlock, as he was stuck in traffic for more than a half hour. He said his office received numerous telephone calls today from people complaining of waits exceeding that.

“We recognize that the situation was unacceptable,” Callahan told city council tonight. “We will certainly do better for next Fourth of July and for Musikfest this year.”

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Attendance at the city’s annual Fourth of July fireworks display was double the normal attendance in previous years, Callahan said. The opening of the new venue in the shadow of the Bethlehem Steel blast furnace might have had something to do with that.

Attendance at Payrow Plaza near City Hall, which has been the traditional fireworks viewing plaza in recent years, actually dropped by 25 percent, Callahan said.

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The mayor said part of what caused Monday night’s SouthSide gridlock is attributable to some temporary road construction situations.

On Third Street near the Hill-to-Hill Bridge for example, have made the streets narrower and slowed the pace of traffic.

Then some streets that run from Third to Fourth streets are also currently blocked for the ongoing construction of the South Bethlehem Greenway rail-to-trail project.

These construction projects “will not be present, God willing, by this time next year,” the mayor said.

However, the administration still wants to go over traffic plans with ArtsQuest to make sure this gridlock doesn’t repeat itself every night of Musikfest next month.

Callahan said he is hopeful the traffic problems can be addressed as they were after the opening weekend at the two years ago turned some of South Bethlehem’s streets into a parking lot.

The SteelStacks area will become a new Musikfest hub this year as the main stage acts, AmericaPlatz, and the Performing Artists Series, which used to be held at Zoellner Arts Center, are moved to the 10-acre campus next to the old Bethlehem Steel blast furnaces.

Frequent council commentator Dana Grubb said he was in traffic and watching anxiously as an Easton ambulance crawled through bumper-to-bumper traffic toward in Fountain Hill. Other motorists struggled to get out of the ambulance’s way, he said. His trip from Hayes Street to the Minsi Trail Bridge, ordinarily made in a minute or two, took 15 minutes.

“It was a cluster, to put it bluntly,” he said. “I only shudder to think what it might be like after a headlining concert.”

Callahan surmised that the traffic should not be as bad during the festival because there will be less parking on site than there was for the Fourth of July festivities on Monday.

“Over all, the opening weekend was a tremendous success,” Callahan said.


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