Over the last two weeks the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC) has held two important tours for the future of the Lehigh Valley, This past week, in conjunction with the New York and New Jersey Port Authority a tour of the Bethlehem Intermodal site was conducted. The site is well on its way to becoming a major inland port and several users have built distribution centers at the site to allow containers to be delivered directly from incoming rail cars to their warehouse facilities. The advantage of the site is that with the multi-modal (rail-truck) service delays at the port can be greatly reduced and shipments can flow into the distribution system much more quickly. The LVEDC is promoting this service as an alternative to trucking directly from the port. The rail service is configured to allow double stack containers and trailers on rail cars. Please contact Pete Reinke for more information (preinke@lehighvalley.org).
This week, the LVEDC conducted a tour of sites in Bethlehem, Whitehall, and Allentown and LANta presented their current and future plans to provide service to several corridors in the Lehigh Valley. The trip started with attendees traveling from downtown Bethlehem on one of the new hybrid LANta buses. The group visited the former Lehigh Valley Dairy Building, the Schoen’s Building in downtown Allentown, the former Bennett and Straub auto dealerships, and One East Broad Street back in downtown Bethlehem. Each of these sites are located on the trunk corridor of LANta’s bus service. Each represent redevelopments which will include commercial, office, and potentially residential uses. The redevelopment of these properties will include a focus on access to mass transit. LANta and the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission outlined their plans to promote transit oriented development. Developers interested in these site’s or other redevelopment site’s should contact Holly Edinger at LVEDC.( Hedinger@lehighvalley.org).
