Taylor Drive Improvements Get Green Light

Upper Saucon Township supervisors were recently told that improvements to Taylor Drive are a top priority for the township.

And at a meeting earlier this month, supervisors unanimously approved a bid award for the improvements to James D. Morrissey Inc.

Township manager Thomas Beil said Taylor Drive is plagued by drainage issues, which can cause icing to occur during the colder months.

To help improve the road for motorists, both resurfacing and drainage work are planned as part of a multi-million dollar project, Beil said.

In order to complete the work, 10 to 12 easements had to be obtained from property owners along Taylor Drive.

Beil said that at an informational meeting about the project held with residents of Taylor Drive earlier this year, many expressed eagerness for the work to commence.

"We didn’t talk to anybody that had a problem with the project," he said. "They were all welcoming it with open arms, actually."

The Taylor Drive project is budgeted at $3 million, including engineering costs.

Supervisors also discussed the intersection of Taylor Drive and Flint Hill Road, which engineer Dennis Harman said is scheduled to be upgraded in conjunction with the work on Taylor.

The realignment of Taylor Drive at Landis Mill Road is a third project that could happen in the future, Beil said.

Harman noted that "multiple residents expressed a concern" about that intersection, which Beil said has a sight distance problem.

"The sight distance is a problem because of trees that are growing” on a property at the northeast corner of that intersection, Harman said.

"It's something that we'll look at. If you choose to do that in a later project, you can," he told supervisors.