Luzerne County congestion hotspots identified in new study

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A new traffic congestion plan identifies 24 Luzerne County corridors and intersections that “remain the most troublesome pinch-points in our region,” county Planning/Zoning Executive Director Matthew Jones said Wednesday.

Required by federal regulations, the completed plan was recently adopted by the Lackawanna-Luzerne Transportation Study Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), which determines how federal and state highway/bridge funds are allocated, Jones said.

As part of the project, the MPO sought public feedback through an online survey in January to identify areas of concerns and evaluate potential solutions to improve safety and traffic flow. More than 600 residents and commuters in both counties responded and pinned over a thousand locations of concern on an interactive map, Jones said.

Analysis of the survey and other data resulted in 45 prioritized spots in both counties — 24 in Luzerne County.

The resulting Luzerne County locations, as described in the report: the Fort Jenkins Bridge/Exeter Avenue intersection, West Pittston; South Main Street, Pittston; the South Township Boulevard/William Street intersection, Pittston; the “Chestnut Street/Oak Street intersection” in Pittston Township; the Route 309/Hildebrandt Road intersection in Dallas Township; Memorial Highway in both Dallas borough and Kingston Township; the Wyoming Avenue/Welles Street intersection, Forty Fort; Rutter Avenue, Forty Fort; South River Street, Plains Township; Kidder Street, Plains Township; Wyoming Avenue, Kingston; River Street, Wilkes-Barre; Wilkes-Barre Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre; Wilkes-Barre Township Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre Township; Highland Park Boulevard, Wilkes-Barre Township; Interstate 81, Wilkes-Barre Township; East Main Street in Larksville and Plymouth; Carey Avenue in Hanover Township and Wilkes-Barre; East Main Street, Nanticoke; Route 309, Fairview Township; the Can Do Expressway, Hazle Township; North Church Street, Hazleton; and West Broad Street, Hazleton.

In the works

Efforts already are underway by various local governments and the state to alleviate congestion at some of these locations, but others have yet to be addressed, Jones said.

“This report reviews what data is available and suggests a process that groups can use to better address these trouble spots in the years ahead,” he said.

Interstate 81 is one example he cited of a stretch with a solution on the horizon.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plans to widen the interstate from two to three lanes, in both directions, between milepost 161 in Hanover Township and exit 168 (Highland Park Boulevard) near the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre Township, with a goal of completing that project by 2033, Jones said.

Another PennDOT project is set to widen a northern stretch, also from two to three lanes in both directions, between the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport exit and Scranton, also eyed for completion by 2033, he said.

This will leave an interstate stretch of two lanes in each direction between those two projects, but Jones said PennDOT is planning yet another project to address that gap, he said.

“So as difficult as it is to traverse when there is high traffic, there are plans in place to address that particular corridor,” Jones said.

In the Back Mountain, Memorial Highway also was identified as a traffic concern the last time a congestion study was completed around 2015, Jones said.

Kingston Township officials and PennDOT have been working on traffic signal optimization plan targeted for implementation by August, he said.

“Hopefully by the fall the traffic won’t be so bad along that stretch,” he said.

His third example was congestion in the area of the Fort Jenkins Bridge in West Pittston, officially the Spc. Dale J. Kridlo Bridge.

Traffic on the state-owned span has increased dramatically since the nearby county-owned Firefighters’ Memorial Bridge (Water Street) linking Pittston and West Pittston closed in August 2021 due to concerns over a bent eyebar.

PennDOT agreed to assume responsibility for the design and construction to replace both bridges but had cautioned completion will take years. Under current estimates, construction of a new replacement Water Street Bridge is projected to start in spring 2027. Once that bridge is constructed, traffic will shift to it so the Fort Jenkins span can be addressed.

Council had unanimously voted last October to fund the $106,508 design of temporary traffic improvements intended to reduce congestion in West Pittston and Pittston caused by closure of the county crossing. PennDOT agreed to fund the recommended enhancements, officials have said.

According to a recent update, the recommendations include a temporary traffic signal at state Routes 11 and 92.

Study purpose

Jones described the congestion report as a “starting point” and a “primer” for officials to zero in on the spots that have surfaced as the “worst offenders.”

“A lot of these improvements will come from municipal government, the county or state government — or a combination of those three groups working together to address them,” Jones said.

Coordinating traffic light signals is one of the most immediate and tangible solutions, he said.

He expects more interest in signal technology that can detect a stopped vehicle and promptly switch the light to green if no vehicles are tracked in the intersecting vicinity.

“Of course this is more expensive, but local governments can explore this option and see if it is suitable,” he said.

The congestion plan is posted on the planning/zoning page at luzernecounty.org.

He also posted two other plans recently approved by the Lackawanna-Luzerne Transportation Study MPO regarding transit access to human service providers for the elderly and those with disabilities and another focused on public outreach related to transportation.

Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes.