Around the bend

Plans for a bypass of state Route 501 at Schaefferstown started more than a decade before Jon Fitzkee was born. The traffic streaming down Main Street has increased dramatically over the years in the Lebanon County village, but no alternative route has been built.

The chances for building the

His job was created last year, when the county organized a metropolitan planning organization (MPO) to advise the state and federal governments on which projects should receive funding. Federal law required the county to set up an MPO after the 2000 U.S. census determined the Lebanon metropolitan area was an urban area with more than 50,000 residents.

Before the MPO was created, Lebanon County officials could only provide input into roadbuilding decisions every two years. They submitted their requests when the state transportation commission updated its longterm plan for the county Regardless of what county officials requested, PennDOT was free to decide how to spend the government funds that were earmarked for the county.

Since last year, a county-based policy board has decided what projects should be built with the available funds. The policy board includes local officials, private citizens and two representatives of PennDOT. The organization must come up with a 20-year long-range transportation plan and use that plan to decide which projects to tackle over the next four years.

Two projects are at the top of its current list: the Schaefferstown bypass and a project to build two bridges over the railroad tracks in the city of Lebanon at Ninth and 10th streets. Both projects are in the planning stages, awaiting final environmental assessments. According to current schedules, planners expect to start building the bypass and the bridges in 2007.

Officials said they expect the bypass project to cost a little more than $8 million from 2005 through 2008. The estimated cost includes final design, the amount needed to buy the right-of-way and the cost of construction. The bridges, meanwhile, are expected to cost almost $40 million by the time they are completed.

The Schaefferstown bypass was first considered in 1968, when the state's regional transportation district completed a study of the location. Planners are considering six possible routes for the bypass. Their preferred plan would involve building approximately 1.2 miles of new road, shifting westward the portion of Route 501 that meets Main Street from the south. That would connect the southern portion of the route directly with the northern part and allow traffic to cross Main Street without turning.

Over the years, the project went through various levels of approval, public hearings, environmental studies and funding requests. Every time the project started, it faltered, sometimes because of public opposition, sometimes because funding dried up.

Meanwhile, truck traffic increased steadily over the narrow stretch of road that connects Lancaster to Interstate 78. About 11,000 vehicles a day negotiate the route's two sharp turns on Main Street, frustrating local residents and business owners.

"If the bypass does truly happen, which I wouldn't bet money on, it would be beneficial from both a business sense and from a homeowner's perspective," said jean Rowe, 48, a real estate agent with Custom Real Estate Inc.

Her agency is located at the point where Route 501 joins Main Street from the south. Rowe said she had seen two accidents nearby in the last week.

Downtown real estate would be easier to sell without the constant noise and pollution of heavy truck traffic, she said. Rowe also said she thought businesses that benefit from foot traffic would not be likely to lose customers. She said the visitors who stop in town usually come to see its historic buildings.

Mark Albright, 46, president of Target Tool Inc., also is eager to see the traffic diverted around Main Street. His business, which makes aluminum molds for factories, is located between the two turns. He said he has to be careful when he pulls onto the road.

The city of Lebanon once considered building a bypass road, but residential developers opposed the plan, and PennDOT soon decided to take its money elsewhere, said Jonathan Beers, 40, the city's public works director. Beers is supervising plans to build two bridges at Ninth and 10th streets in Lebanon that would cross over the railroad tracks running beside Scull Street.

The bridges are an alternative to the bypass, and they are meant to help the flow of traffic in the city, Beers said. Trains go through the area every 20 minutes, forcing drivers to wait. The tracks divide the north side of town from the south side. Officials are particularly concerned about the delay for ambulances carrying patients from the north side to the city's two hospitals, both on the south side.

Many residences and some businesses will be demolished to build the bridges. The owners of those buildings have been notified by mail and will be paid for their property and for the cost of relocation, Beers said.

For the businesses that remain, the construction phase may create difficulties. Up-Front Footwear Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of marching-band shoes, is located between Ninth and 10th streets on Scull Street. Jeffrey Savoca, the companys president, said he has been an active member of the project's design committee.

Savoca said he thinks the bridges will be good for the area when they are finished, but he doesn't know how the trucks coming to his factory will negotiate the roads while they are being built. "We're going to probably be affected by it while it's going on, but they haven't said anything about how it will work during construction," he said.

Beers said plans have not been finalized yet, but Savoca will not be completely cut off from the roads. "We're only going to build one bridge at a time," he said.