Archives: FAQs

From a safety perspective and the operational perspective with the traffic analysis it was determined that a roundabout would be the preferred solution at this intersection, as opposed to a traffic signal or a stop-controlled intersection.

Air quality analysis is part of our preliminary environmental engineering clearance and is currently being assessed in the context of the proposed improvements. Results will be included as part of the environmental assessment report being prepared for the project and we are also currently assessing some adjustments based on actions by the current administration in the Federal government in terms of how they are proposing for greenhouse gasses and other emissions to be reviewed so we are currently working with PennDOT and Federal Highway Administration to assess those changes as they come about.

This project itself, we have looked for all points, is not a traffic generator itself.  All we are looking at is the current traffic and future traffic projections regarding the development of the area. It does not see any traffic generating nature within this project. We are not creating any business or anything like that out of this project to actually contribute to any increase in traffic.

The project noise assessment is being performed in accordance with Federal Highway and PennDOT guidelines. Which are outlined in PennDOT’s publication 24, which is a publicly available document online. The design year build conditions around levels determine impacts and vary by land use, so for example residential impacts thresholds typically occur around 66 decibels.

Impacted land use warrant abatement consideration, typically provided in the form of sound walls. Warranted abatement options are then assessed for feasibility, which is constructability and reasonableness which evaluates cost effectiveness and the performance of any proposed barriers or noise barriers in that case.

In round numbers it’s approximately $150 million, but there are a lot of caveats and contingency built into that number. That could change due to construction starting in 2029 due to inflation, changes in design, and cost of materials at the time. There are a lot of factors that go into that.

At this time actual right-of-way impacts are still being determined because until we get environmental clearance nothing is guaranteed. After that, if we did get a finding of no significant impact and we start the right-of-way acquisition it would go through the normal process. Once it has been determined that a property is going to have acquisition on it, the right-of-way team would reach out to the property owner. Each property will get their own individual drawing showing what impacts they had. You would then be able to get an offer from PennDOT which would tell you how much they are willing to pay and then you can negotiate with PennDOT on that. There is a lot of stuff that goes into that for coverage where PennDOT pays for independent appraisals and covers a lot of the costs for the property owner during the negotiation process too.

Please note that the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) that are on the project website.  One of the questions does talk about what happens if PennDOT needs my property for the project.  Listed under that question is a brochure that talks about the right-of-way acquisition process for property owners.

If your property is impacted, you will be contacted by the PennDOT acquisition team and PennDOT’s acquisition team will listen to all of your issues and involve the engineering team during that negotiation process, to make sure that the best solution is put in place for any impacted property owners.  

For the cemetery specifically, the frontage road from Parkvale south would be converted to a two-lane driveway. That will get them in and out and that is the way we were told that their precessions prefer to go and that is the front entrance or the frontage for the cemetery. They do additionally have the back entrance off of Old Lincoln Highway, so they will still have access to it.

Regarding the Sinclair station, we will be maintaining the section of frontage road between Bellevue (Avenue) and the station to allow for access off of there and to Bellevue (Avenue) but to actually get from Route 1 to the gas station you would have to take the interchange like you would at any normal limited access highway, get off the interchange, and proceed to the gas station.

We have done some preliminary studies regarding traffic control through the corridor. It won’t necessarily be sequential from south to north, nor will it be done all at once.

There will be certain sections that are easier to work on because we do have to maintain two lanes of US 1 traffic through the corridor at all times, during high traffic times, peak hour times and sometimes during the daytime hours too.

So, it will be a little more patchwork. We will do it in as big of sections as possible to be convenient and more efficient for the contractor, but it won’t be all at the same time nor will it be sectioned south to north or north to south.

Our updated traffic analysis shows the same level of service for the build and no build conditions. Basically, prep-analysis has levels of service A through F with A being the best and F being the worst. Our level of service for both the build and no build condition at Pine (Street) and Maple (Avenue) is level of service C.

So, we are not projecting that the signal will get much worse and as far as the new signals we are projecting that both of them will be level of service B. Which is a very good level of service.

Our traffic analysis shows that they will operate well. It should be noted that with the two new signals they will be coordinated to work together so that ideally when someone gets a green at one as they continue through, they will hit the next green and that will pull two in together and operate better that way.

That is a traffic calming feature in itself as opposed to coming up to a stop sign. As I mentioned, there’s increased safety benefits with roundabouts versus stop control or signal control. Due to the low volume roadways that are here, traffic analysis and models have shown that the mini roundabout functions very well.  It helps slow down traffic but keep it flowing as they traverse around / are directed around the central island.

The benefit is that it fits within primarily the existing footprint of a smaller intersection such as this so limits any adjacent property impacts to be minimal. But then also still maintains truck turning movements if a bigger truck does need to turn through the intersection since it would be a smaller intersection. They could traverse that center island.  All those islands would be raised with truck apron curb. So, it’s mountable but not desirable for the passenger vehicle to come flying through here by any means.

 

<Reference to slide 18> In this particular example, you can see the proposed typical section coming north here is eleven-foot travel lanes with a three foot outside shoulder. Multiple option were being looked at and discussed with Langhorne Borough.

This option looked at closing the northbound left turn lane in order to provide a mountable median, which would also double count as a pedestrian refuge so they would only have to cross one lane of traffic at a time. So it is narrower in the first place as you come up here compared to what it is today. In addition, fresh crosswalk marking, the rectangular rapid flashing beacon and increased pedestrian signing and there are solar panels and lights associated with that that would be triggered to get traffics attention whenever someone is crossing the road. 

Other options would be not doing the median, like we’re showing here, but maintaining the left turn lane and then still maintaining a crosswalk with the rapid flashing beacon. We are looking at potential bulb-outs which would potentially narrow up those shoulders from three (3) foot to just one (1) foot right at the intersection. But heading north of Flowers Avenue it’s already one (1) foot shoulders so you’d only be able to do the bulb-out on the southern side of the intersection.

There’ve been various options that we are looking at that combine some of those different aspects to the traffic calming.