A LebTown Right-to-Know request has revealed further details of a planned roundabout at SR 934 and Clear Spring Road, as well as other improvements in support of a planned 3-million-square-foot DHL logistics park in South Annville Township.
DHL-subsidiary Exel Inc. received a $3 million grant from Pennsylvania’s Multimodal Transportation Fund to help fund the improvements. LebTown requested the application documents from PennDOT in a Right-to-Know request that was fulfilled last month.
Read More: $3 million grant awarded to reduce traffic impact of Clear Springs Logistics Park
According to the grant application, DHL estimates the project will cost a total of $4.3 million, with DHL to provide the additional $1.3 million of funding needed to complete it. The bulk of that funding will go towards construction of the roundabout.
| Line Item | Total Cost |
| Construction – SR 934 & Clear Springs Road Roundabout | $2,592,999 |
| Construction – Killinger Road Site Frontage Improvements | $1,285,328 |
| Construction – Bus Shelter (Lump Sum) | $40,000 |
| Total Construction Estimate | $3,918,327 |
| Engineering (7% of construction estimate) | $274,283 |
| Contingencies (3.5% of construction estimate) | $137,141 |
| Project Total | $4,329,751 |
DHL will be responsible for any costs that may exceed the project application award amount.
The project also includes the construction of ADA-compliant sidewalks at the roundabout, multiple bus shelters on DHL’s campus for Lebanon Transit’s bus route 88, and improvements to Killinger Road for ingress/egress points to the Clear Springs Logistics Park.
The grant application states that DHL will be spending more than $283 million on construction of the facility, which will contain nearly 3 million square feet of warehouse space when complete.
When complete, the logistics park will join the existing Hershey warehouse (currently 800,000 square feet but planned to expand to 1 million square feet) as well as the 1.3-million-square-foot Eagle Point Logistics Center now under construction to bring the total warehouse space within eyesight of the 422/Killinger intersection to more than 5 million square feet.
Read More: NorthPoint says it expects to complete new Annville warehouse by spring 2023
In the grant application, DHL said that the new logistics park will create approximately 566 new, permanent jobs and provided recurring recurring state and local tax and fee revenue of $3 million annually.
The application received widespread support from local politicians and officials, including letters of endorsement from state Sen. Chris Gebhard (R-SD48), state Rep. Sue Helm (R-104), Lebanon County senior transportation planner Jonathan W. Fitzkee, Lebanon Transit executive director Theresa L. Giurintano, and South Annville Township manager Donald Umberger.
“Clear Spring Road is a heavily traveled connector road leading from North State Rout 934 to Route 422, with frequent motor vehicle accidents occurring at the intersection of Clear Spring Road and North State Route 934,” wrote the North Annville Township supervisors of the general need for improvements at the intersection.
According to a PennDOT Road Safety Audit cited in the grant application, that intersection has had 10 injury-causing accidents in the past five years.
Work to construct the roundabout will include grading & excavation; paving, curbing, & sidewalk; and drainage, signs/lane markings, and landscaping. The roundabout will be constructed to allow tractor trailers to easily navigate the intersection, and include traffic calming measures.
The concept plan for the roundabout suggests a substantial impact for at least one local homeowner. Messages to the homeowner had not received a response as of publication time.
At the May meeting of the North Annville Township Board of Supervisors, solicitor Paul Bametzreider said that the project would likely involve land acquisition and eminent domain, according to meeting minutes (PDF).
PennDOT has not shared a timeline for the project, and has not yet met with the developer regarding next steps. A PennDOT spokesperson said that meetings would be set up with the developer and project sponsors over the next couple months.
The grant application indicates that the design of the project should be complete by October 2022 and bids should be opened this winter. Construction is proposed to begin in spring 2023 with a targeted completion date of May 2024.
The full RTK response may be viewed here.
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Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify that the North Annville Township Supervisors did not endorse DHL’s specific plan for the roundabout at Clear Spring Road and Route 934, but only the general need for improvements at that intersection to improve the road’s safety.
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