As the calendar is ready to be flipped to 2025, here are four things to keep an eye on in the new year in Berks County.
Work to start on new roundabout on Route 222
As far as roadwork is concerned in Berks, one of the biggest developments is expected to occur during the first month of 2025 and involves no earthmoving.
That’s when PennDOT expects to open bids for a long-awaited roundabout project at Kutztown Road and Long Lane. It’s one of the only remaining intersections on a 12-mile stretch of Route 222 before the Lehigh County line that is controlled by traffic lights.
The Route 222 and Long Lane intersection improvement project has been delayed a few years by right-of-way acquisition and funding issues.
Three points of the intersection are occupied by Valentino’s restaurant, Arby’s and Rutter’s gas station and convenience store. A Wawa has been proposed for the fourth point, a vacant lot next to the Xode Inc. building.
Alan D. Piper, Berks County transportation planner, said construction on the county’s newest roundabout is expected to begin later in the year.
Elsewhere in Berks, residents and those passing through will see the continuation of the project to replace the Lenhartsville Bridge on Interstate 78 over Maiden Creek in Greenwich Township, Piper said.
Besides the major projects, a number of paving and smaller-scale bridge projects are scheduled to be done this coming year by PennDOT or its contractors.
Paving:
• Lancaster Avenue from Route 625 in Reading to Route 724 in Shillington.
• Mull Avenue from the Spring Township line to Route 724 in Sinking Spring.
• Mineral Spring Road from the Lindberg Viaduct to Perkiomen Avenue and Perkiomen to North 11th to Washington Street.
• The section of Interstate 78 between Shartlesville and Hamburg.
• The lower portion of Interstate 176 to the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
Bridges:
• Alleghenyville Road over Interstate 176 in Robeson Township.
• Route 724 over the Allegheny Creek in Robeson Township.
• Route 419 over the Tulpehocken Creek in Womelsdorf and Marion Township.
• Route 645 (Camp Swatara Road) over the Swatara Creek in Bethel Township.
• The bridge that carries Route 10 over a tributary of Conestoga Creek, near the turnpike interchange in Caernarvon Township.
— Steven Henshaw
Large-scale industrial development shows no signs of slowing
Henry Noss had no problem telling the South Heidelberg Township Planning Commission his reasons for wanting to part with farmland that has been in his family for generations.
“My dad…was never on a vacation in his life, did nothing but farm,” Noss said at a meeting in December. “He had a great life. But I don’t plan on dying in his same feet.”
Noss was one of multiple landowners courted in recent years by developers of warehouses, solar farms and other large-scale industrial projects.
Consumer demands for more power, more products and faster shipping haven’t slowed, and neither have proposals by developers looking to meet those demands.
Such developers generally seek out rural land in areas where the increased traffic and heightened light and noise their projects generate won’t violate local codes.
Some municipalities and school districts are also eager to welcome such developments, especially in areas that don’t have the commercial growth needed to offset increasing operational costs.
For Noss and his family, the outcome has been positive — a proposal by C&B Development to place a 440,000-square-foot warehouse on his land in South Heidelberg received final approval in December.
But some residents living and working near the proposed megastructures have a less than rosy view of their new neighbors.
They voice their opposition loudest in areas where proposed warehouses border concentrated population centers, like in Maxatawny Township, where C&B Development has proposed a 709,000-square-foot warehouse at the site of the former Kutztown Airport, near Kutztown University.
Those plans — which remain in litigation — have been vehemently opposed by some KU students and residents living nearby, who argue the increased truck traffic would risk their safety.
Such sentiments can translate into election results, with officials looking to oppose warehouses or preserve the land’s rural roots earning seats on local boards.
Those officials include Maxatawny Township Supervisors John Deplanque and Marcus Simonetti, who voted in July to dismiss a land use request by developer 23 Max LLC, Allentown, for 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space on Hilltop Road.
Residents earned similar success in Windsor Township after supervisors in October voted down a land use request to place a solar farm on 440 acres of historically rural land.
In that and other cases, residents banded together, forming action committees and hiring legal representation to fight developers in local land use hearings.
One such case remains in litigation — a proposal by developers Northpoint LLC, Riverside, Mo., for a 739,000-square-foot warehouse next to the Flying Hills residential development in Cumru Township.
The proposal has divided officials in Cumru.
Some commissioners see the plan as a critical monetary lifeline, while others view warehouses as a threat to the safety and character of the community and instead seek to generate tax dollars by spurring commercial development.
That conflict of ideals played out when Cumru commissioners voted 3-2 in November to approve another proposal by C&B Development for a 543,000-square-foot warehouse and a 237,000-square-foot southwest of Grings Hill Road and Route 222.
Farmers are also grappling with the realities of a shifting market.
In Caernarvon Township, dairy farmer Jared Kurtz is looking to partner with developer Vanguard Renewables to install a waste processing facility.
Kurtz says the project would give his fourth-generation farm the revenue to thrive for years to come, despite the total number of dairy farms plummeting nationwide.
Vanguard, a subsidiary of multinational investing firm Blackrock, says the facility, called an anaerobic digester, would safely turn food waste into renewable gas, but some residents, as usual, have concerns.
— Keith Dmochowski
Big moves on the way for Berks services
The new year will be filled with improving facilities and packing boxes for Berks County.
“We have a lot of projects taking place in 2025,” said Kevin Barnhardt, county chief operations officer. “There are a lot of infrastructure and renovation plans that we will be undertaking.”
Barnhardt said finishing renovations to the Berks County Agricultural Center is a big priority for the county.
The county agricultural center houses a web of county and federal agencies related to preserving and enhancing agricultural production. Originally built in 1973, the center is composed of a 36,000-square-foot section that houses many offices and a 30,000-square-foot warehouse.
Construction crews broke ground on improvements to the facility on County Welfare Road in Bern Township last summer to meet the contemporary needs of the county department of agriculture and the partner agencies.
The two phases of the project are expected to cost more than $10 million — money that will be drawn from the county’s capital reserve.
The first phase of the project includes conversion of the warehouse section into new office space for county and federal agencies, a county workshop, garage and storage spaces, updated restrooms, a break room, and upgraded electrical and mechanical systems.
It also includes the construction of a new energy-efficient exterior and installation of large window sections that increase natural lighting.
Barnhardt said those renovations are expected to be completed by the end of winter, then work will begin on the second phase in the spring. Those renovations will include more window replacements and interior improvements to the office suite.
The space will be large enough to relocate other county offices, including the coroner’s office, which is in rented space near Reading Regional Airport in Bern Township.
Barnhardt said the coroner’s office isn’t the only department on the move in 2025.
He said the county is moving six departments from their downtown location to the Berks County South Campus in Mohnton this spring.
Once those moves are complete, Barnhardt said, it will give other departments more breathing room and allow them to make changes to improve efficiency. The effort is the result of a space allocation study the county had done to make sure they are maximizing the potential of their facilities.
In addition to the building and relocation projects on the horizon, Barnhardt said addressing workforce challenges will continue to be a top priority for officials as they head into the new year.
He said that like many counties across the country, Berks has struggled with recruiting and retaining workers to fill positions in county facilities and departments that provide around-the-clock services following the COVID-19 pandemic. That includes those who work in emergency services and at the nursing home and county jail.
“We still have large vacancies in all four areas,” he said. “More and more we are struggling to find people who want to work those evening and weekend shifts.”
— Karen Shuey
Turnpike tolling system changing
Beginning Jan. 5, the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s open road tolling system will go into effect in the eastern part of the state, including the section that passes through Berks, and the Northeast Extension.
Under this system, officials said, tolls are charged electronically as motorists drive at highway speed beneath gantries between interchanges.
The first phase begins in January when the tolling system goes into effect at mile marker 290 in Lancaster County just east of the Reading Interchange near Adamstown, and points east to the Delaware River Bridge and Northeast Extension.
Construction has begun on the central and western parts of the turnpike, which is expected to be completed in 2027.
The turnpike will adjust its tolling system to a base per-mile rate, which means customers will get a single toll per segment as opposed to the aggregate trip they get now.
For a two-axle car, an E-ZPass customer will pay 7 cents per mile, plus $1.09 per segment, while those using toll-by-plate will be charged 14 cents per mile, plus $2.18 per segment.
Turnpike officials said the current toll for a passenger vehicle traveling between Morgantown (Exit 298) and Valley Forge (Exit 326) paying with an E-ZPass is $5.20. Their new toll will be $5.23.
Turnpike officials say 84% of E-ZPass trips will see a toll decrease or an increase of less than $1 in 2025 compared to 2024 rates.
Where gantries are not yet operational, tolls will be charged as an interchange-to-interchange trip but based on the new rate structure.
To see the 2025 rates and calculate the cost for your route go to paturnpike.com/toll-calculator.
Officials said there are several benefits to the open road tolling system:
• Interchanges will be safer as the toll booths will be removed and allow for more free-flowing traffic.
• The environment will also benefit as less fuel will be used because vehicles will no longer have to speed up after passing through the toll plazas.
• The turnpike commission will be able to add exits at a fraction of the cost because it won’t have to build toll plazas.
— David Mowery
Source: Berkshire mont
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