The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) District 5 announced today new traffic patterns will be in effect starting Monday, September 8, around the Route 309 interchange with Tilghman Street in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County. The traffic patterns are for the ongoing Route 309 and Tilghman Street interchange reconstruction project[YR(10] .
Starting Monday, Route 309 north access to Tilghman Street east and west will utilize the same interchange ramp. Access from Route 309 north to Tilghman Street west will be controlled with a traffic signal, and access from Route 309 north to Tilghman Street east will be a merge configuration. This configuration will remain in effect permanently.
Tilghman Street east will be reduced from two lanes to a single lane between Hausman Road and Parkway Road. In addition, left turn movements from Tilghman Street east and west to Parkway Road will be restricted. Tilghman Street traffic wishing to access Parkway Road will be detoured on Springhouse Road. This pattern is anticipated to be in effect for several months.
Left turn movements from Tilghman Street east to Hausman Road will also be restricted. Tilghman Street east traffic wishing to access Hausman Road will be detoured on Broadway. This pattern is also anticipated to be in effect for several months.
Work to implement these new traffic patterns will begin Sunday afternoon, September 7. Motorists should expect lane restrictions and possible traffic stoppages in the area from 3 p.m. Sunday through 6 a.m. Monday.
The closure of the Route 309 south ramp to Tilghman Street east that went into effect on August 19 will remain in place until approximately September 1, 2026.
For the duration of the interchange project motorists can expect lane restrictions on Tilghman Street between 40th Street and just west of Hausman Road. Restrictions are anticipated between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. weekdays and anytime on weekends. Motorists are advised to anticipate changing traffic patterns and allow for extra time traveling through the area.
There will be future times when Broadway will be closed, and there may also be off-peak times when lanes may be restricted on PA 309. Advance notice will be provided whenever traffic patterns change.
The project includes the reconfiguration of the Route 309 at Tilghman Street interchange to improve safety and mobility. It will include two bridge replacements - one at Route 309 over Tilghman Street and another at Route 309 over Broadway Street, the rehabilitation of the Route 309 culvert over Little Cedar Creek, roadway drainage improvements, road base repairs, paving, and sidewalks on Tilghman Street. Two new traffic signals will also be installed at the end of the reconfigured Route 309 ramps to Tilghman Street that will be coordinated with existing signals at the intersections of Hausman Road at Cetronia Road, Tilghman Street at Parkway Road, and Tilghman Street at 40th Street.
This year utility infrastructure work, drainage facility work, and work to install electrical conduit and foundations for traffic signals will take place. Other work planned this year includes interchange ramp work, erosion and sedimentation controls, embankment work, roadway work on Route 309 and Tilghman Street, barrier installation, and constructing a cul-de-sac at Windsor Drive and Midland Road.
Route 309 in this area has an average daily traffic volume of 57,372 vehicles. Tilghman Street in this area has an average daily traffic volume of 20,101 vehicles.
Allan Myers, LP of Worcester, PA is the general contractor on the $86,475,455 project, which began last fall and is expected to be complete in March 2030.
Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles, including color-coded winter conditions on 2,900 miles, by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 1,000 traffic cameras.
511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional X alerts.
Subscribe to PennDOT news and traffic alerts in Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe, Northampton, and Schuylkill counties at www.penndot.pa.gov/District5. Find PennDOT news on X, Facebook, and Instagram.
MEDIA CONTACT: Ronald J. Young, Jr., M.P.A., 610-871-4555, ronyoung@pa.gov; Sean A. Brown, 610-871-4556, sebrown@pa.gov
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