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Transportation study of Muncy area is on commissioners agenda

The Lycoming County commissioners are expected Thursday to approve a $118,800 contract with McMahon Associates to do a transportation study of the Muncy area.

If approved, the study by McMahon Associates, based out of Camp Hill, will start immediately and cover Muncy and Hughesville boroughs and Muncy, Muncy Creek and Wolf townships. It will take about a year to complete, said county Transportation Planner Mark Murawski.

Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling impact fee money would pay for 75 percent of the study and the local municipalities would pay for 25 percent, he said.

The study is necessary because the Muncy area is experiencing rapid growth and development due largely to Marcellus Shale development, he said.

“It’s important to manage traffic from new development in a way that’s proactive so we don’t congest those roads,” Murawski said.

“The goals are to have proper access management controls in place so that we minimize the number of new driveways from new developments onto the road system,” he continued. “Too many driveways cause congestion on roads, so we’re going to try to consolidate access points and minimize those (new) driveways onto roads. The plan will show how do that,” Murawski said. “We don’t have money available to widen all those roads.”

McMahon Associates was chosen because of its familiarity with a law that states developers are responsible to pay for off-site transportation improvements if that particular work negatively impacts transportation off the work site, Murawski said. Because of this familiarity, McMahon’s study would be used to enforce this law with developers if they don’t voluntarily comply, he said.

Also on Thursday, the commissioners will revisit and likely approve an agreement not to exceed $20,000 with Pioneer Sports Production to create a series of 20 videos from late October to June for Lycoming County Area Television or LCAT-75. The videos are intended to educate the public on county projects.

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