Route 412 Construction Project Expands This Week

Single lane of traffic from Daly Avenue to Hellertown in force beginning Monday until March 2014.

  The length of the Route 412 construction zone will get longer today as PennDOT continues executing a $36 million plan to widen the road that connects Interstate 78 to Bethlehem. Where Route 412 still has two lanes in either direction—along the length of the project between Daly Avenue and Wagner Avenue in Hellertown—it will be cut down to one. These restrictions will be 24 hours a day and are expected to remain in place through March 2014, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation news release. The overall project targets the area between Daly Avenue and Cherry Lane in Hellertown and is expected to be completed in August 2015. The project also includes improvements to the Route 412 Interchange with Interstate 78. The …

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Chris

7:55 pm on Sunday, April 21, 2013

They better open the split under the PB&E bridge towards Freemansburg it sucks going to the stop light turning right and taking the road that way   more ›

Construction to Slow Night Traffic on Route 412

Removal of an 'overhead railroad structure' in South Bethlehem will mean extra lane restrictions and flagging for about a week.

  PennDOT contractors will begin removing “an overhead railroad structure” on Thursday, which could mean traffic delays for any vehicles traveling along Route 412 in South Bethlehem during overnight hours for about a week. This small piece of the ongoing three-year, $35.9 million Route 412 widening project will mean lane restrictions and flagging from Shimersville Road to Emery Street and between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. until April 10, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation news release. The lane restrictions will not be in place on Saturday night, PennDOT said. Also, on April 9 from 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. there will be "brief traffic stoppages" associated with the structure's removal, the state agency added.

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Utility Work Near Rt. 412 Could Cause Delays

The work by Verizon will cause 'short-term stoppages' on Shimersville Road and Commerce Center Boulevard in Bethlehem on Friday and Saturday, according to a travel advisory.

  Motorists who travel on or near the Route 412 corridor in Bethlehem may experience brief traffic stoppages Friday and Saturday because of utility work. According to a PennDOT travel advisory, the work will be performed by Verizon and will involve "overhead utility wire pulls" on Shimersville Road and Commerce Center Boulevard. Both of those roads intersect with Route 412 north of the I-78 interchange. According to PennDOT, while the work is being performed one lane of travel will be maintained in both directions on the affected roadways. Traffic on Route 412 in both Bethlehem and Hellertown is often subject to delays and pattern changes as a result of an ongoing, multimillion dollar widening and upgrade of the roadway between the I-78 …

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Road Construction Worker Dies of Injuries

Chris Burch, 29, was reportedly hit by a 2,000-pound section of concrete barrier while working on Route 412 expansion project in South Bethlehem.

  A highway contractor who was injured Tuesday while working on the expansion of Route 412 through South Bethlehem has died, a company spokesman said. Chris Burch, 29, of West Berlin, N.J., had worked for HRI Inc. since April, according to Andy Renfrew, a company spokesman. A 2,000-pound section of concrete highway barrier fell on Burch near Rustic Exteriors at 1866 Auburn St., according to The Express Times,  Workers freed Burch from the barrier before emergency crews arrived to take him to St. Luke's Hospital, according to a Morning Call report. Burch was pronounced dead at 3:47 p.m. Tuesday in the emergency department of St. Luke's Hospital-Bethlehem. The Lehigh County coroner ruled his death an accident due to multiple blunt force …

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Major Reconstruction of Route 412 Imminent

Today, contractors are scheduled to start preliminary work on Route 412 widening and reconstruction from Daly Avenue to Hellertown.

  Preliminary work to widen and rebuild Route 412 between the city and Hellertown is getting under way today, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. This work will not entail any lane restrictions, however motorists should be alert for slow moving construction vehicles entering or exiting the roadway, according to a PennDOT news release. The first physical part of the $36 million project will be to build new detention basins between Wagner and Lynn avenues. The overall project will target the area between Daly Avenue and Cherry Lane in Hellertown. The project also includes improvements to the Route 412 Interchange with Interstate 78. The project is designed to reduce congestion and increase safety for the 20,750 …

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More Road Construction for South Bethlehem

Rehabilitation of Shimersville Road bridge will force traffic detour on to Route 412.

Daily congestion on Route 412 in Bethlehem might get worse in the coming weeks as a bridge rehabilitation project will force a temporary detour of traffic from Applebutter Road onto the state highway. A $1.7 million rehabilitation project of the “structurally deficient” Shimersville Road bridge will get under way Tuesday, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation officials announced this afternoon. The bridge crosses the Saucon Creek between E. Fourth Street in South Bethlehem and Main Street, Freemansburg. Applebutter Road will close on Sept. 16, 10 days after construction begins, because of its close proximity to the bridge, PennDOT officials said. It will remain closed through the end of November. The posted detour for Applebutter Road …

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Further Widening of Route 412 on the Horizon

$50 million project from Sands Casino to Interstate 78 could start next year.

A $50 million road improvement project on Route 412 could spur a flurry of development in the corridor from the Sands Casino to Interstate 78. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is poised to seek bids on the project, which is expected to start early next year, according to Mike Keiser, assistant district executive for design for PennDOT District 5. Once the Army Corps of Engineers signs off on the plans, which Keiser said could be any day now, his agency can begin advertising for bids. Federal and state money will pay for a full reconstruction of Route 412, widening it both ways from where the recent casino road improvements ended around Daly Avenue to Cherry Lane by the ramps for I-78 in Hellertown. The construction is expected…

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Editor's Corner

Recent Incidents Highlight 412 Corridor's Congestion

Route 412 in Hellertown and Bethlehem isn't just a highway to the casino--it's an artery that local residents rely on. Two recent incidents have demonstrated, however, that this road has become dangerously congested.

What do you do when you're told to detour, but there's practically nowhere left to go? Saucon Valley and Bethlehem residents who rely on Route 412 to get to work, to school--and in emergencies to a doctor or hospital--may have asked themselves this question during two recent incidents that clogged 412 traffic north and south of the I-78 interchange on the border between the two municipalities. The first incident occurred July 21, when a car fire broke out at the Chevy 21 auto dealership at 1100 Hellertown Road (Route 412) in Bethlehem. No one was seriously injured, but 12 cars were destroyed by the fast-moving blaze. And considering that the fire broke out amid gasoline-filled vehicles, the outcome could have been much worse. Although the …

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Road Closure Causes Near Gridlock Along 412 Corridor

The closure of Route 412 this afternoon was due to a fire at the Chevy 21 auto dealership. Traffic was backed up in both directions as motorists scrambled to find alternate routes to and from Interstate 78.

The closure of a busy state road on one of the hottest afternoons of the year so far caused traffic chaos and near gridlock in parts of both Hellertown and Bethlehem this afternoon. Authorities were forced to close part of Route 412 and detour traffic because of a car fire at the Chevy 21 auto dealership, which is located at 1100 Hellertown Road (Route 412), just north of the westbound on and off ramps to Interstate 78. According to report published on the Morning Call website, the fire destroyed a dozen vehicles. At 2:35pm, an email from Sean Brown at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Engineering District 5-0 stated that Route 412 had been reopened. However, at approximately 3pm, southbound traffic from Bethlehem was still …

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Josh Popichak

11:02 am on Friday, July 22, 2011

I know what you mean, Lisa. What the pictures don't convey, though, is how slowly the traffic moved yesterday. At some points we were just inching forward. I've added a few photos that show what the traffic situation looked like on Route 412 south, on the other side of the interstate (and the fire). The traffic backup there was pretty bad, too.   more ›