Expect Delays at Route 22/145 Interchange Saturday Night

Traffic on Route 22 will be affected as workers set beams Saturday night as part of a $14 million improvement project at the Route 145/MacArthur Road interchange.

Lane restrictions and traffic stoppages that were planned for Friday night at the interchange of US 22 with PA 145/MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township, Lehigh County have been moved due to potential inclement weather. The traffic restrictions will now occur this Saturday night (April 20), weather permitting. The restrictions are necessary to allow workers to safely set beams for the new PA 145/MacArthur Road Bridge over US 22. Beginning at 10 p.m. Saturday night, a lane will be restricted on PA 145/MacArthur Road south between Grape Street and Fairmont Avenue and a lane will be restricted on US 22 east and west between Fullerton Avenue and 15th Street. These restrictions are expected to be in place until 6 a.m. Sunday morning. There will …

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Fatal Crash Caused By Speed on 378 Ramp, Cops Say

Police have released details of a Jan. 27 crash that killed a Nazareth area man

The crash that killed Joshua Kortze, 24, of the Nazareth area on Jan. 27 happened when he was speeding around a curve on the Route 378 off ramp to get onto Route 22 in Bethlehem, police say. Kotze's 2007 Subaru Impreza began to spin clockwise as he took the curve and he then counter steered, sending the car spinning in the other direction where it went off the road and hit a PennDOT highway sign, according to details of the accident released this week by state police of the Bethlehem barracks. The car then went northeast and hit a concrete median. Kortze was pronouned dead at St. Luke's University Hospital.

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Man Killed in Route 22 Crash Sunday

A 24-year-old Bushkill Township man was killed early Sunday when his car crashed on Route 22 in Bethlehem.

Joshua R. Kortze, 24, of 538 Roberts Road, Bushkill Township was killed early Sunday when his car crashed on Route 22 in Bethlehem, according to the Lehigh County Coroner. Kortze was driving east on 22 from the Route 378 north ramp at 3:35 a.m. His death was a result of blunt force trauma and has been ruled an accident. He was pronounced dead at 4:17 a.m. Sunday at St. Luke's University Hospital, Fountain Hill. Pennsylvania State Police are investigating the accident.

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Route 22 in Easton Reopens After Spill

Route 22 eastbound and westbound were closed in the Easton area for two hours Wednesday for a spill later determined as bleach.

Route 22 in the Easton area has now reopened following a two-hour closure because of a spill that PennDOT officials now say was bleach. Crews cleaned up the spill at: The spill happened on Cemetery Curve in Easton around noon, according to a Lehigh Valley Live report. Hazardous materials crews responded to clean up the highway. PennDOT officials later determined that the spill was bleach.

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Crime News

City Restaurateur Accused of DUI, Resisting Arrest

Owner of Horns Restaurant in SouthSide almost hit Route 22 construction workers with pickup truck, kicked 2 cops in the knees at DUI Center and refused blood test, troopers say.

  The co-owner of a SouthSide Bethlehem restaurant is suspected of driving drunk when his pickup truck almost hit construction workers on Route 22 early Thursday – one year to the day that he and his wife opened their eatery. John M. Silvestera, 39, co-owner of Horns Restaurant and a resident of Forks Township, also is accused of kicking two police officers in the knees after being processed at the Northampton County DUI Center. He also refused to take a blood-alcohol test. The state police trooper who arrested Silvestera in Easton described his behavior as “belligerent, defiant and aggressive” and said he was “continually and repeatedly insulting” to him and officials at the DUI center. Silvestera’s arrest came exactly a year after he and…

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Route 22-MacArthur Road Project Starts Monday

A very busy Lehigh Valley crossroads will undergo a five-phase makeover

One of the busiest crossroads in the Lehigh Valley will undergo a major reconstruction project starting Monday, May 21. Motorists should use extra caution at the interchange of Route 22 and Route 145/MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township, Lehigh County. This first of five phases involves the construction of a temporary pedestrian bridge over 22, adjacent to the 145/MacArthur Road overpass. The temporary bridge will accommodate pedestrian traffic during the reconstruction of the interchange. This initial work will require about one week of nighttime lane restrictions on 22 between 15th Street and Fullerton Avenue. Motorists should anticipate weeknight lane restrictions on US 22 east or west between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. next week (May 21 …

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Route 22 Guiderail Repairs Mean Lane Closures

Guiderail repairs along Route 22 from Bethlehem to Palmer Township will mean lane closures.

  Motorists using Route 22 between Route 191, Linden Street, Bethlehem, and 25th Street in Palmer Township may see delays in daytime travel today. A Pennsylvania Department of Transportation contractor is scheduled to replace guiderails along that stretch of the highway between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The work will start in the eastbound lanes first and then move over to the westbound lanes. There will be temporary lane closures along the length of the highway as work proceeds.

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Video: Firefighters Battle Garbage Truck Fire

A garbage truck fire on Route 22 at Route 378 stalled late afternoon traffic Wednesday. Bethlehem firefighters doused the blaze.

  A garbage truck fire wreaked havoc with late afternoon rush hour traffic at Route 22 near the interchange with Route 378 in Bethlehem on Thursday. Bethlehem firefighters responded to the scene to extinguish the blaze and restore order to the highway, as shown here on on this You Tube video by Nester Video Productions. The videographer reported that the truck -- which carried the markings of J.P. Mascaro & Sons -- was carrying cardboard products and firefighters had to dump some of the truck's contents onto the road to put the fire out.

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An Independent View

Widening Route 22 Won't Fix Our Traffic Problems

A better solution: investing that money in LANTA.

Bruce E. Davis of the Route 22 Coalition brings us the latest bad idea from the 2000's that should have been put out of its misery when the housing bubble popped. Mr. Davis has long been an advocate for widening Route 22 to a 6-lane freeway between 15th Street and Airport Road, but Ed Rendell's "fix it first" policy for infrastructure mercifully ended that idea's prospects for a while. But now, Tom Corbett's Transportation Funding Advisory Commission appears to have put the issue back in play, and local sprawl boosters are giddy. In a Morning Call opinion piece, Mr. Davis wrote: Within the [Commission's] report are comments that have put the widening of Route 22 to six lanes between the 15th Street and Airport Road exits back in play. As …

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Jessica Burde

11:27 am on Sunday, August 21, 2011

Understood, the people I'm referring to are already traveling - driving when they would prefer to take the bus, for a number of reasons. I guess my point is that I can say from personal experience that increasing the availability and flexibility of the bus lines would get some people off the road. Whether it would be enough people to make a real difference in the congestion, I couldn't begin to …   more ›

5 Things to Know Today

Happy 70th birthday, Bob Dylan; free kids vaccines at City Hall; SteelStacks Farmers Market open.

Good Morning Bethlehem.

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