NEPA becoming congested? (Scranton, Easton, Middletown: new home, closing, to live)

[The Commish]

81 is a mess. I believe it gets twice the traffic it was built for.

The Montage area is also congested, but they're widening that road to 5 lanes in the Fall. (That might help in the short run but I think it will only increase traffic over time).

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

I went down to pa on friday to close on a house.Traffic ; not one piece of traffic from rte 80 east from the GWB all the way thru rte 15, rte 84 and the local streets ; gosh, I dont think I passed one car


Now dont talk about the Deegan or the Cross Bronx.

d

Are you being serious? No traffic on Friday coming from NY to PA. You must of been driving at 3 in the morning.

[ontheroad]

Congratulations on selecting a house. Wondering if you found one in the Damascus area (where you were looking at the Church).

In all and any case, welcome to the area.

Originally Posted by okaydorothy

I went down to pa on friday to close on a house.Traffic ; not one piece of traffic from rte 80 east from the GWB all the way thru rte 15, rte 84 and the local streets ; gosh, I dont think I passed one car


Now dont talk about the Deegan or the Cross Bronx.

d

[okaydorothy]

I am serious. The only traffic I had was trying to get onto the GWB from the Tri boro. The Deegan was backed up.

Once I got on route 80 west, I flew. I left Long Island (exit 65) at 10am and got to Hamlin at 1;15pm for a 2pm closing.

We would have loved to have bought that church, but we just dont ahve the funds to redo it yet. I have photos of my kids running around in the snow there. Maybe some day.

dorothy

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by The Commish

81 is a mess. I believe it gets twice the traffic it was built for.

The Montage area is also congested, but they're widening that road to 5 lanes in the Fall. (That might help in the short run but I think it will only increase traffic over time).

Ditto Highway 315 in The Pittstons. Five years from now this corridor is going to be even MORE dangerous than it already is. Why?

1. We've just learned that the Petro Travel Center in Dupont will be purchased at fair-market value and razed to make way for the revamped interchange of Exit 178 at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport. This will shift all of that tractor trailer traffic to the Pilot Travel Center along Highway 315.
2. When the multi-phase Center Point Commerce & Trade Park is at full build-out, it will generate thousands of new vehicle trips per day in the form of hundreds of trucks and thousands of commuter vehicles, all of which will feed onto Highway 315.
3. The upcoming Pittston Crossings project, which will be anchored by a Super Wal-Mart, will add a greater burden of traffic onto this already overtaxed roadway. In addition to the adjacent 17 sites for other retail and restaurant development, the old Wal-Mart is rumored to become a Home Depot.

I'm just hoping I'll be living in Scranton by the time this mess comes to a head in a few years. I was rear-ended here violently in mid-2006 due to the dangerous intersection of the Exit 175 Northbound offramp @ The 315, and I've personally witnessed several other fender-benders between that intersection on northwards through the Oak/Armstrong intersection and the free-for-all center turn lane in the Perkins/Knights Inn/Arby's area. At rush-hour, especially on Fridays, this is every man for himself!

[skijmpr]

Originally Posted by weluvpa

That doesn't mean that we need to or should want to absorb that many people. I also don't think that we would be able to absorb that many people without overloading our areas infastructure.

It all depends on the style of growth that is used, and the rate at which people arrived. Ten thousand people over a 5 year period would be easy for a city like Scranton to handle, IMO. The city already has most of the infrastructure it needs, and the additional tax base could help pay for things like school improvements/additions that would be needed. I think the important thing to keep in mind is that it would be better to have 10K new people in the city than in the region, as the latter implies more sprawl housing out into the countryside, resulting in more strain on the infrastructure that does not exist to support such capacity (e.g., roadways).

I live in the D.C. area, and let me tell you I've seen the city itself and many of the closer counties, such as Arlington where I live, easily absorb 50K people in 1 or 2 years, but areas way out in the "exurbs" could barely handle half that number yet got nearly twice that amount in the same period of time. The result was that they ended up with severely overburdened roads, schools, emergency services, hospitals, etc.

I had a vision once of taking some of the blighted blocks in downtown Scranton and revitalizing them with "smart growth" structures that have retail on the ground floors and condos/apartments or offices above. It's amazing how much potential that city has when you think about it. I could go on with my ideas for the city, but I think I'll start a new thread to house them

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by skijmpr

It all depends on the style of growth that is used, and the rate at which people arrived. Ten thousand people over a 5 year period would be easy for a city like Scranton to handle, IMO. The city already has most of the infrastructure it needs, and the additional tax base could help pay for things like school improvements/additions that would be needed. I think the important thing to keep in mind is that it would be better to have 10K new people in the city than in the region, as the latter implies more sprawl housing out into the countryside, resulting in more strain on the infrastructure that does not exist to support such capacity (e.g., roadways).

I live in the D.C. area, and let me tell you I've seen the city itself and many of the closer counties, such as Arlington where I live, easily absorb 50K people in 1 or 2 years, but areas way out in the "exurbs" could barely handle half that number yet got nearly twice that amount in the same period of time. The result was that they ended up with severely overburdened roads, schools, emergency services, hospitals, etc.

I had a vision once of taking some of the blighted blocks in downtown Scranton and revitalizing them with "smart growth" structures that have retail on the ground floors and condos/apartments or offices above. It's amazing how much potential that city has when you think about it. I could go on with my ideas for the city, but I think I'll start a new thread to house them

How have I never met you before?! Another person from NEPA who knows what the terms "urban sprawl" and "exurb" mean? OH YEAH!!!

[skijmpr]

Originally Posted by SWB

How have I never met you before?! Another person from NEPA who knows what the terms "urban sprawl" and "exurb" mean? OH YEAH!!!

Aha, because I don't live up there anymore silly The views I express are my own, and would not even be shared by my parents! (who do live in the area).

I actually have a side interest in architecture and urban planning, so despite being an engineer by trade, I have a reasonable understanding of the art of designing a city properly. I've read some books you might like, such as "Suburban Nation" and "The Geography of Nowhere."

Top that off with the fact that I live in one of the best-planned counties in the country (also listed as "Most Educated" on some list) that has some of the best mixed-use neighborhoods I've ever seen, transit-oriented development, a strong and diverse population that is active in the local communities, lots of pedestrian friendly sidewalks, trails, etc. that are frequented by both casual bikers/runners/skaters/younameit and commuters alike, an excellent environmental track record, a populace that fully supports its efforts...I could go on and on.

Seriously, if you want ideas on good urban design, Google for "Arlington" and phrases like "smart growth", "urban villages", "green design", etc. They practically wrote the book, and the crazy thing is they set all this into motion over 30 years ago, right around the time Metro was arriving in the county. Also check out this Wikipedia article:

Transit-oriented development - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Both of those pics on the right are of Arlington.

[skijmpr]

Originally Posted by SWB

How have I never met you before?! Another person from NEPA who knows what the terms "urban sprawl" and "exurb" mean? OH YEAH!!!

Btw, I will let you know the next time I am headed that way and perhaps we could meet up for drinks at one of the fine establishments in the city and muse over ways to (a1) improve the city itself, and (b2) improve the outlook of its denizens. I'm actually a huge fan of the fancy little espresso bar right next to the Courthouse plaza (forget what it's called).

[AmeriKenArtist]

After living in Boston for five years, and coming back home, I still appreciate the "lack of traffic." When the Patriots were playing at Gillette Stadium, Interstate 95 was at a stand-still for hours, twenty miles away!