PennDOT District 8 tells local planners: No new projects until next transport bill

PennDOT District 8 plans to focus on projects approved in the county’s current Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) rather than taking on any new ones in the immediate future, members of the technical committee of the Municipal Planning Organization (LEBCO MPO) learned Tuesday.

“There is no money to start any new projects or studies in the next two years,” Carey Mullins, District 8 planning transportation manager, told the committee. “We’re cycling through some big projects right now.”

The county has about a dozen improvement projects either in the design and development pipeline or under construction. Funding for those projects comes mostly through the federal transportation bill which expires next September.

What the funding level will be in the next federal transportation bill is unknown.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty, so we’re playing it conservative,” Mullins said. “We could be sitting here next July, and there’s money, so we can advance projects.”

Mullins also provided updates on several projects in the county’s current TIP including:

• Resurfacing of State Route 72 from the county line to Rocherty Road with drainage improvements, signing and pavement marking updates. A right-turn lane into Gretna Springs also will be added. Estimated let date of October.
• Installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Orange Street and Cornwall Road, Lebanon. Estimated let date of January.
• Signal improvements at York and Summit streets on Route 72. This project will replace outdated equipment to help with traffic flow. Anticipated let date of June 2027.
• Lingle Avenue reconstruction, which includes drainage improvements, stream relocation and restoration and widening of the road. Target letting is early 2028.
• Safety improvements to State Route 343 and Kimmerling/Kochderfer roads. Project may include a potential roundabout. Estimated let date is early 2028.
• Intersection improvements at state Route 501 and Reistville Road. Currently designing for horizontal and vertical realignment of Route 501. Let date targeted for December 2027.
• Safety improvements of U.S. Route 422 and Prescott Road with traffic signal. Includes some right-of-way impacts. This project is progressing through preliminary engineering with anticipatory let date of 2028.
• Hill Church Road safety improvement which may consist of a traffic signal and reconstructing existing horizontal and vertical curves. Estimated let date of October 2026.

Soon to be underway is a corridor study of Route 72 from State Route 419 into 9^th and 10^th streets in the city. The MPO received $300,000 from PennDOT for the study of the area that is undergoing significant development, said Jon Fitzkee, senior transportation planner with county planning.

“We’re going to look to identify improvements, so that if there is more money in the new federal transportation bill, we can direct it to making improvements to this corridor,” Fitzkee said.

Fitzkee also said the MPO is putting in an application for a Transportation Alternative Set Aside project for resurfacing and draining improvements on the southern part of the Lebanon Valley Rail Trail near Cornwall and Butler Road.

In other business, the committee voted to approve a memo of understanding with the Eastern Pennsylvania Freight Alliance, a consortium of counties experiencing rapid growth of logistics parks along the I-81 and I-78 corridors. The MPO has been part of the EPFA since 2021.

The next meeting of the Technical Committee, Lebanon County Metropolitan Planning Organization, is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18. Meetings are held in Room 207, Lebanon Municipal Building, 400 S. 8^th St., Lebanon.