We’ve all seen those ubiquitous little QR code boxes that, with a simple mouse click, take us where we want to go online. So easy to create. So easy to use. Yet, every one of them involves a complex system of encoded data, error correction and positioning information.
Our road system is sort of like those QR codes. From Interstate 78 to Route 22 to the smallest local alley, a surprising amount of data and analysis goes into every paved path before and after the rubber meets the road.
Periodically we perform what the U.S. Department of Transportation has less-than-affectionately named “Roadway Functional Classification.” Sounds boring yes, but it’s actually pretty important. It’s essentially categorizing every road in our transportation system, based on how it’s being used. It’s the reality check for usage, based on average annual daily traffic or how many vehicles use the road. Functional classification is really exactly that — what the road operates or functions as. Stringing together the various sections — what transportation planners and engineers call segments — we get a very clear picture of where people are going and in what volumes. We can track changes, and yes, we see the cut-through that you thought only you and your closest friends and family know.
How roads are classified affects how a road is signed, what speed limit it has, whether it gets traffic signals or turning lanes, and determines crosswalk and bikeway design. It also dictates the criteria used to monitor whether it’s working well, what federal or state funding it’s eligible for, and ultimately, where it is placed on the priority list for upgrades or improvements.
Whether a road gets funding for improvements could quite literally depend on how it has been categorized.
Road classification has to be done because things change. Communities grow, development happens, societal habits evolve, and all that changes how people get to and from the places they need to go — work, school, the gym, wherever. It also affects the need for emergency services access from police, ambulance, and fire to national security. It’s that important. And since it was last done in 2015, we’ve changed a lot.
The population of Lehigh and Northampton counties has increased by more than 40,000 in just a decade. We’ve added more than 48 million square feet of industrial development, and another 18,000 homes have been approved by local communities. Perhaps the most relevant change is that Lehigh Valley motorists are now logging nearly 1 million more miles a day on local roads than they did a decade ago. People are now collectively travelling nearly 15 million miles a day on Lehigh Valley roads.
Societal habit changes include more people using rideshare, and an explosion of delivery services beating a path to your doorstep. Sure, more people are working from home at least part of the week these days, and the data shows more local trips around neighborhoods, but because of population and business growth, traffic on major routes such as Routes 22 and 33 has increased as well. I’ve said it every day for a decade now — more is more, which means we have to think about transportation system management and improvement differently. The functional classification system updates allow us to do this, support more and better system refinements and ultimately enhance safety and mobility.
With all that in mind, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission analyzed all 8,235 unique roads in the Lehigh Valley by inputting millions of bits of data that include things such as traffic counts, crash and injury reports, speed limits, population and employment density and whether such traffic generators such as schools, hospitals or entertainment centers are nearby. The analysis puts each road into one of seven categories ranging from the Local Road to the Interstate. I, like many of you, sample just about every category on my typical commute to work, which includes driving past farm fields in Northwest Lehigh County, and passing by commercial centers and industrial corridors before arriving in one of the region’s more urban zones along the riverfront in Allentown. You have experienced the changes so we are supporting communities, emergency management services, PennDOT and the USDOT, to rise to the challenge.
As a result of that road analysis, we requested to PennDOT and eventually USDOT that 31 Lehigh Valley roads be upgraded to a higher classification. And big announcement, folks — Route 22 now meets the traffic threshold to be classified as an interstate highway. The functional classification work of the LVPC is the basis for this request to the federal government for redesignation as critical to national mobility, not just state or regional. You heard it here first.
It will likely surprise no one that we found zero roads that should be downgraded.
Climbing a step in classification, and in some cases two, include some of the region’s most recognizable corridors, including American Parkway, Tilghman Street, Route 100, Catasauqua Road in Bethlehem, Eighth Street in Allentown and 13th Street in Easton. PennDOT and USDOT experts will evaluate our recommendations and decide which roads will change. If you frequent one of the roads changing, you won’t see immediate impacts, but over time, the most likely changes will be different lane widths, speed limits and the addition of turning lanes on some roads that have become a lot busier.
The fact that we have to reclassify over three dozen roads is a statement of how the success of our region has a cascading impact that touches just about every aspect of daily life. People are attracted to this region’s wide range of natural resources, open space and recreation, and in some cases, its robust transportation network.
These increases in population, employment centers, commercial corridors and ultimately traffic, reinforce a simple truth: a growing, thriving region doesn’t just happen — it’s planned, studied, and yes, sometimes reclassified. The roads we drive each day aren’t just pavement — they’re the backbone of a community and an economy in motion. So next time you’re sitting at a red light or navigating a new turning lane, know that it’s not just traffic — it’s data in action, shaping a Lehigh Valley that’s constantly evolving to meet the needs of the people who call it home.
This is a contributed opinion column. Becky Bradley is executive director of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission. She can be reached at planning@lvpc.org.