After Years, Two Dangerous Middletown Intersections To Be Revamped

Two dangerous intersections in Middletown Township will be remade in the coming years.

On Monday evening, the Middletown Township Board of Supervisors heard a presentation from Traffic Planning and Design’s Philip Wursta and Don Jacobs on updating the intersections of Langhorne-Yardley Road and Bridgetown Pike and Langhorne-Yardley Road and Woodbourne Road.

The project is being led by PennDOT, but involves support and cooperation from local, county, state, and federal government.

At Langhorne-Yardley Road and Bridgetown Pike, plan would erase the current three-direction intersection with traffic signals and put a roundabout in its place. The plan calls for using some of the land in county-owned Core Creek Park and utilizing it to create the roundabout, which is different than a traffic circle and is a round intersection with yield signs in place of stopping devices.

Not far away at Langhorne-Yardley Road and Woodbourne Road, the project would add turn lanes and realign the intersection. The project would move a portion of the roadway and give the intersection a more traditional design.

The Langhorne-Yardley Road and Bridgetown Pike roundabout would have a “very minimal” impact on private land owners and use a small amount of county park property to create the circular intersection. The roundabout would clam traffic, better manage volume, and reduce the risk of serious crashes, Jacobs said.

The roundabout would also create better pedestrian features and connect to trails at Core Creek Park, Jacobs said.

PennDOT began using roundabouts in recent years and has 29 finished and 40 more in design. Data released in 2019 found that fatalities, injuries, and crashes decreased at intersections where roundabouts were placed.

The revamped intersection at Langhorne-Yardley Road and Woodbourne Road would move a portion of the roadway into a wooded area on park property. The project would use some county park property to redo the intersection, Jacobs said, adding the work would “better align the intersection and make it easier for drivers to see.”

In exchange for using park property, three patches of township-owned land nestled in the park would be exchanged with the county.

Wursta said the project has overcome several key hurdles and construction could be underway be 2023. The multi-million project still needs to undergo final design, find contractors, relocate utilities, and finalize right-of-way aspects.

PennDOT originally had the project scheduled for 2027 but moved it up.

The revamping of the two intersections has included lots of government agencies coordinating, Wursta said, adding reworking the intersections have been talked about for 25 years.

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