Highway plan too costly to execute

Tim Darragh of The Morning Call investigated why the move to widen a local highway, Route 22, seemed highly unlikely, despite the backing of several powerful groups. "The widening plan has backers that include those who lobbied for and got construction of such landmark road projects as the completion of Route 33 from the Poconos south through the Lehigh Valley." The biggest hurdle to widening Route 22 is the project's enormous cost, which was estimated at $776 million in 2001, is already tens of millions of dollars more expensive because of inflation. The other problems inlude eminent domain, more pressing needs and a change in philosophy at the state Department of Transportation. The investigation also showed ways to improve the highway that would cost less and be completed sooner.