Bill would allow trucks on Route 209 in the Gap

The Times Tribune
By Andrew M. Seder, Staff Writer

BUSHKILL, PA — "Commercial trucks could soon be allowed to use U.S. Route 209 through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

A House bill approved this week now awaits action in the Senate.

Since Nov. 1, truck traffic has been prohibited from using the road that runs through Monroe and Pike counties from Bushkill to Milford.

The National Park Service normally bans commercial trucks within its boundaries but made an exception for those in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. That exception expired this fall.

Truckers from eastern Pennsylvania en route to New England use Route 209 as a shortcut to Interstate 84 in New York.

U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood, R-Tunkhannock Township, whose district covers Pike County, introduced the bill. It was co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, whose district includes Monroe County, and U.S. Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey, Hurley, N. Y., a congressman whose district covers a portion of New York state that borders Pike County.

“The piece of legislation is particularly necessary because of the growth that this area has experienced over the last decade. In fact, this section of Northeastern Pennsylvania has become one of the fastest growing areas in the state,” Mr. Kanjorski said.

Congress passed a law in 1995 that allowed commercial traffic, which is normally banned from national parks, to pay a toll to travel on the stretch of Route 209 that runs through the Delaware Water Gap.

At the time, Mr. Kanjorski said, the exception extension was given so other road projects could get under way or be completed to alleviate traffic congestion. The law expired on Sept. 30, but a 30-day grace period was given to extend it to Nov. 1.

Since then, only commercial trucks making deliveries in the nine municipalities bordering the recreation area have been permitted. Park employees manning checkpoints in Bushkill and Milford have turned others away.

The bill passed this week by the House allows the commercial truck exception to continue through 2015, at which time alternate truck routes are expected to be completed, including the Marshalls Creek Bypass and state Route 2001.

Route 209 connects Interstate 80 to Interstate 84 and is the major north-south road in the eastern Poconos. The Senate needs to pass the bill and then it will go to the president to be signed into law."

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Bill would allow trucks on Route 209 in the Gap