Reconstruction project becoming a headache for residents

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    CARBON COUNTY, Pennsylvania (WNEP) — “It’s a nice area, but they’re ruining it because of all the traffic,” Janice Hoffman of Mahoning Township said.

She has had it with the constant traffic outside her home along Ashtown Drive near Lehighton.

People are using this back road as a detour while PennDOT begins work on nearby Route 443.

“It starts very early in the morning, and it’s non-stop. There’s a lot of tractor-trailers using the area now because of the construction on 443,” neighbor Debbie McGowan said.

PennDOT is reconstructing more than two miles of Route 443 and adding a center turn lane.

“If you try to make a left-hand turn, you’re holding up all the traffic behind you and having the chance of getting hit or rear-ended with your car,” Hoffman said.

However, residents on Ashtown Drive said the reconstruction project is coming at a cost to them.

“It’s awful. A lot of us have to sit and wait to back out of our own driveways. UPS trucks are by here all the time. You’ll see as you stand here how fast the traffic goes by,” McGowan said.

The speed limit here is 25 miles an hour; neighbors say with more people using the road, more people are speeding.

“If they would only go 25 or 30! They go through here sometimes at 50-55 miles an hour,” Hoffman said.

Another concern for neighbors as more drivers use the back road is a narrow bridge on Ashtown Drive.

“My concern is the tractor-trailers. Come down off the hill, and all of a sudden you a small bridge and a school bus going across it. Now what,” McGowan said.

It could be a long period of inconvenience for these neighbors. PennDOT doesn’t expect this reconstruction project on Route 443 to wrap up until September of 2024.

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