Officials: Township Burdened by Amazon Traffic

With the winter holidays approaching, Upper Macungie supervisors are thinking less about shopping and more about traffic, specifically about traffic from the Amazon.com warehouses.

When Amazon first proposed its local fulfilment facilities, the company estimated it would have about 800 to 1,200 employees, said Bruce Wlazelek, director of community development. But now it has about 3,000 employees, more during the holidays, he said.

Based on a previous traffic count, the short Route 100 corridor near the industrial park, with Interstate 78, Route 22 and Route 222 all feeding into it, sees more than 37,000 vehicles a day, said Supervisor Chair Ed Earley.

"The traffic has only gotten worse since then," he said.

The supervisors discussed the situation at Thursday night’s meeting.

The township’s biggest concern with Amazon is that it has placed a burden on the police department. The problem is that employees leaving Amazon’s two warehouses make illegal left turns off Grim Road onto traffic choked Route 100. Others will take the right onto Grim Road and make an illegal U-turn at Willard. Both situations cause safety issues.

Supervisor Samir Ashmar said the township last met with Amazon representatives in July, but have heard nothing about the company's plan to alleviate the congestion since then despite repeated attempts.

Wlazelek said he had been contacted on Oct. 5 by a consultant representing Amazon asking about extending access points from the Amazon parking lots. Wlazelek told supervisors that a plan like that would require extensive development reports, meaning any chance to decrease the traffic congestion, or the burden on the police department, won’t happen this year.