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Feet of Roadway Widened
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Inlets and Manholes Added
Technical Leader:

Don Lerch

The Challenge

RK&K recently concluded a transportation project over a decade in the making for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) that provides significant congestion reduction and safety improvement, new pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and more than 40 revised driveway accesses.

Pennsylvania State Routes (SR) 209 and 115 intersect at a severe skew in the Village of Brodheadsville, Monroe County at the foothills of the Pocono Mountains. SR 209 is a National Highway System route and SR 115 is a federal aid primary route. Both two-lane routes carry over 15,000 vehicles through the intersection daily. The intersection is amidst a mixture of commercial, residential, and educational land uses with the northwest quadrant dominated by the sprawling Pleasant Valley School District campus, where approximately 2,500 students attend classes.

Failing levels of service and extremely long queues were routine experiences and crash rates exceeded statewide averages for similar facilities fivefold. Compounding traffic operational difficulties were frequent and open-ended access points (both in driveways and Township roads), lack of turning lanes, and concentrated peak periods associated with school traffic combined with commuter through traffic. Plus, pedestrian access facilities were non-existent, and shoulders were narrow.

“Chronic severe congestion and a high crash rate have plagued this intersection and the corresponding approach roadways since an influx of residents migrated from New York and New Jersey in the late 1980s.”

Don Lerch, Technical Leader

The Solution

To begin addressing these numerous issues, PennDOT selected RK&K in 2013 to design a solution to mitigate these difficult traffic conditions.

First, the project team was tasked with developing six alternatives for comparison and contrast.

They completed the alternatives analysis which examined traffic signal and roundabout options. They then completed the preliminary engineering and final design for roundabouts at two intersections, and traffic signals at one intersection.

The selected alternative included widening of over 7,000 feet of roadway to add additional through lanes. The existing signalized SR 209/SR 115 intersection and the primary SR 209 campus driveway intersection were converted into hybrid roundabouts. The primary SR 115 driveway intersection was signalized, and School District security personnel have been provided the capability of overriding the signal phasing during daily bus entry and discharge periods.

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