Latest news with #ReadingAreaTransportationStudy
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
PennDOT looking to make your drive on Route 183 in Berks safer, more efficient
Anyone who travels the 15-mile stretch of Route 183 in Berks County can probably point out some of its deficiencies. The problems include very narrow or nonexistent shoulders; high-volume, non-signaled, high-trafficked intersections; and a series of structural bottlenecks. There are also deficiencies not easily recognized while going 60 mph, including a number of bridges nearing the end of their lifespans. Three separate studies, each tackling a segment of the major north-south corridor, are in various stages of completion. PennDOT commissioned the studies after being asked by Berks County transportation planners to look at possible improvements to the corridor. Those studies quietly commenced during the 2 ½ years since a citizen-led town hall meeting in Bernville. About 100 people, including elected leaders from four municipalities, attended, as did representatives of the Reading Area Transportation Study, or RATS. RATS is the planning organization that helps PennDOT decide how to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal money devoted to highway, bridge and transit improvements in Berks. 'We've known all along that these needs are there,' county transportation planner Alan Piper said at a recent meeting of the group. 'But that (the town hall meeting) gave us the impetus to be able to go back and work through the process, and to get these various phases onto the program.' The studies eventually will lead to specific improvement projects to be funded in the four-year transportation improvement plan, or TIP, for Berks, Piper explained. It's a start. Just don't hold your breath waiting for construction. 'The nature of this corridor is changing annually as traffic continues to increase with a mix of trucks,' Piper said. 'But we're moving things forward, and I want to commend the department (PennDOT) for doing the studies and getting involved in this at the level that they are.' Donald Lerch, a PennDOT consultant, recently gave the RATS coordinating committee an overview of the Route 183 studies. Upper section The first study, recently completed, takes in the northernmost section, from Interstate 78 in Upper Bern Township to New Schaefferstown Road in Jefferson Township The engineers conducting that study recommend upgrading the intersection of Route 183 and Old Route 22 in Strausstown. A blinking yellow light warns Route 183 motorists of a stop sign. While preliminary engineering still needs to be done before plans are proposed, the consulting engineer is recommending a roundabout or full signalization. For the balance of that section, the engineers are recommending the shoulders — only a few feet wide if they exist at all for much of that section — be widened to 6 feet where practical. 'There are things along the corridor which make it difficult to widen,' Lerch said. 'For example, there are quite a few cultural resources, historic properties — some with buildings right up against the road — as well as the Northkill Creek, which parallels the corridor for a significant distance.' Within the limits of that study, two bridges would need to be replaced with wider spans to accommodate wider shoulders. The new spans would be wide enough to allow traffic to continue to flow over them during work to widen the rest of the section, as opposed to a detour throughout the construction phase, Lerch said. Middle section The next section begins slightly north of Solly Lane, just north of Bernville, down to Byerle Hill Road, just south of the borough, in Penn Township. 'Here's probably going to be the most significant, at least from a financial perspective, of all of the projects,' Lerch said. PennDOT officials are studying how to widen the stretch of Route 183 north of New Schaefferstown Road in Jefferson Township. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE) It includes two intersections with heavy traffic volume: Shartlesville Road, which is a shortcut to the Amazon RDG1 Fulfillment Center in Upper Bern Township and is the main access road for Penn-Bernville School; and North Heidelberg Road, which is a shortcut for many western Berks residents to the Route 183 corridor . It cuts through Bernville and part of Blue Marsh Lake. The project team has conducted interviews with stakeholders, including representatives of the Tulpehocken School District, the four municipalities that those intersections directly impact and the Army Corps of Engineers, which manages Blue Marsh Recreation Area. 'The focus is going to be on safety improvements,' Lerch said, 'but, in particular, two intersections of Shartlesville Road and North Heidelberg Road.' Analyses are being done to determine the best-suited intersection types. Engineers have to contend with several concerns when designing improvements for this section. A bridge that crosses Northkill Creek just north of Shartlesville Road will probably need to be replaced with a wider span. Besides the school district property bordering Route 183, Lerch pointed out, the extent to which the highway can be widened or realigned is limited by Blue Marsh; the road is built upon a levee for the lake. Lower section This study is in an early stage. It addresses the maddeningly inconsistent lane capacity between West Leesport Road and the Route 222 interchange in Bern Township. Route 222-bound traffic backs up beyond the queuing lane along Route 183 in Bern Township heading southeast toward Reading. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE) The road narrows from four lanes around the interchange to one lane in each direction around Van Reed Inn. It returns to four lanes, not including turning lanes, around West Ridge Shopping Center before narrowing to two lanes around Wawa, just north of the West Leesport Road intersection. A single vehicle stopped while waiting for a clearing in oncoming traffic to turn left into a business can bring traffic behind it to a standstill in the two-lane sections. Also, during peak commuting, it's common for traffic to stack beyond the queuing lane for traffic turning onto the Route 222 southbound onramp. 'The goal is to widen the piece between West Leesport and 222 to make that two through-lanes in each direction, plus a center turning lane and right turn lanes where warranted,' Lerch said. 'It will also include lengthening the queuing lane for traffic that is turning onto 222.'
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Reading City Council president announces bid for reelection
Reading City Council President Donna Reed has announced that she is seeking reelection to the post. Reed, 71, was appointed to serve as council president in January 2023 and elected in November 2023 to serve the final two years of the full term to which the late Jeff Waltman was elected in November 2021. Donna Reed Reed formerly served as council's District 5 representative, a position to which she was elected six times, beginning in 2001. Reed will enter the May 20 primary on the Democratic ticket. She is the third person to announce a primary bid for the president's seat, which is elected at-large. Council members Jaime Baez Jr. and Vanessa Campos also will be running as Democrats for the post. 'This was a serious decision for me,' Reed said in a statement. 'In the past weeks, I've been approached by so many people from city residents to state, county and city officials to folks in law enforcement, legal, business and trades professionals to run again for the office I hold.' Nearly all, she said, stressed the need for consistency and institutional knowledge on the council body. 'I intend to continue to lead into the city's future with independence, integrity and a shared intent to move Reading forward through supporting economic development to increase job opportunities, the return to passenger rail service, and to support collective efforts for a safer and cleaner city,' Reed said. Reed has served on council, with a brief interruption to reenter the news business, since 2002. In those years, Reed said, she has worked with a number of council members. Among the key issues she tackled as a council member, she said, were the preservation of the Antietam Lake Watershed and the successful, decadelong effort to rescue Reading from its former designation as a financially distressed city under state Act 47. Reed's everyday work of council, she said, is to be present and responsive to residents' concerns, deal with ongoing fiduciary and policy matters, and hold fellow officials to their responsibilities stated in the Home Rule Charter. Reed serves as council representative to the Reading Area Transportation Study, the Pagoda Foundation and the America250 Committee. She also is council liaison to the Stadium Commission and BCTV. She is a past member of the city planning commission. Reed was chair of the Reading 275 anniversary celebration, is a trustee of the Berks History Center and a longtime board member of Crime Alert Berks County. She previously served on the board of the Centre Park Historic District and the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance Women2Women Council. Reed is a graduate of Muhlenberg High School and The American University, Washington, D.C., with a bachelor's degree in political science and communication. She worked on Capitol Hill and in a D.C. news bureau before returning to Berks and joining the Reading Eagle where she served for 23 years as a reporter, columnist and editor. Reed said her time on council and former career in local journalism reflect her dedication to public service. 'On council, I serve as the public's voice,' she said. 'As a journalist, I served as the peoples' eyes and ears on government, including covering City Hall.' She also served as vice president/communications for the former Berks County Chamber of Commerce, volunteer coordinator for Meals on Wheels, assignment editor for the Berks Edition of Channel 69 News, media/government relations staffer for a local pharmaceutical research firm, communications coordinator for the Berks County Parks and Recreation Department, editor of The Historical Review of Berks County, and Cocalico editor for The Ephrata Review, during which time she earned two top statewide reporting awards. She handled the publication of 'Pagoda Centennial Tales' for the 100th anniversary of the city's icon, and has written for a number of local, state and regional publications. She is a regular contributor to Berks County Living magazine. 'I believe my long experience and connections in the community have been an asset to the work of the council and to the city and its people,' she said. 'I love Reading, its many cultures and people that can both honor the past and look to the future.' Meet the candidate Candidate: Donna Reed, 71, Reading Position sought: Reading City Council President Background: She has served as council president since January 2023. Reed formerly served as council's District 5 representative, a position to which she was elected six times, beginning in 2001. She has served as vice president/communications for the former Berks County Chamber of Commerce, volunteer coordinator for Meals on Wheels and has been a reporter, columnist and editor. She has a bachelor's degree in political science and communication. Term: Four years. Compensation: The council president is paid an annual salary of $6,875.
