PennDOT project to address flooding on Lingle Ave. estimated for 2028 season

A multi-million dollar PennDOT project to address flooding on Lingle Avenue (Route 3017) won’t get underway this year as planned.

In 2022, PennDOT announced plans to reduce or eliminate flooding and standing water on Lingle Avenue by reconstructing and widening portions of the roadway, as well as performing stream restoration on nearby Spring Creek. At the time, the project was estimated for the 2025 and 2026 construction season at a cost of $5.8 million.

Read More: PennDOT shares plans for Lingle Avenue reconstruction & stream restoration

The project spans Palmyra Borough, North Londonderry Township, and South Londonderry Township. The improvements should minimize or eliminate the recurring flooding between Northside Drive and the Lingle Avenue Elementary School entrance, PennDOT said previously.

In December 2024, PennDOT told the Lebanon County Metropolitan Planning Organization hydrology and hydraulics had been finalized for the project.

The project is currently on track for going out to bid in 2027, with construction in 2028.

“The let date needed to be pushed out due to complexities of the project,” said PennDOT spokesman Dave Thompson. “The issues with Lingle Avenue are challenging.”

Thompson said PennDOT is currently advancing the preliminary engineering phase of the project.

Archaeological review of the project has already been completed and revealed no challenges for proceeding.

However, a study on “above ground effects” determined there could be potential adverse effects on the John & Hannah Witmer Farm, a property eligible for the National Register of Historic Places that is owned by the Hershey Trust Company. Original structures on the Witmer property showing its Pennsylvania German heritage include a house, a barn, a summer kitchen, and a smokehouse.

Hershey Trust owns approximately 209 acres in total along Lingle Avenue in Lebanon County, in addition to the many times that amount of land it owns in neighboring Derry Township.

PennDOT has explored avoidance and minimization but said that the planned walking path on the north side of the road and removal of the stone field wall on the south side of the road were essential to the project.

“Additional minimization measures, including placing a sidewalk along the edge of the road as an alternative to the walking path, were considered; however, they would not allow the project to address the flooding and standing water concerns within the project area,” said PennDOT in a report filed earlier this year.

The transportation agency will seek to mitigate the effects of the project, according to the report, such as by covering any rip rap used for drainage with smaller stones, topsoil, or mulch and by salvaging the stone wall.

“In additional to the minimization of the rip rap and the wall salvage effort as part of the project, PennDOT is suggesting a history of the Hershey Trust in the form of a story map or physical publication, providing financial assistance to the Pennsylvania Historic Barn and Farm Foundation’s Barn Grant program, and/or the digitization of agricultural census data for both North and South Londonderry townships from 1860-1880,” said PennDOT in the report.

PennDOT said previously that once the project begins, it would include an approximately 4.3-mile detour expected to last four to six months.