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Lewisburg Studying Effect of Truck Traffic on Market Street

LEWISBURG, Pa. — There are concerns in one community in Union County that large trucks are hurting its downtown. Lewisburg is conducting a traffic study t...

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- There are concerns in one community in Union County that large trucks are hurting its downtown.

Lewisburg is conducting a traffic study to see how that truck traffic is affecting a portion of Market Street.

Market Street in downtown Lewisburg is known for its historic buildings and quaint shops and stores, but according to businesses along it, it's getting known for something else: large trucks.

“Over the past couple of years, the truck traffic has increased significantly. It created a safety issue as well as just a lack of an enjoyable experience for customers,” said Coleby Kauffman, the owner of Tastecraft Café.

Kathy Snyder owns Brushstroke and says those trucks pose a threat to the people and buildings on Market Street.

“The vibrations to the buildings, when the heavy trucks go by, that concerns me it's going to be a serious problem with the road and everything else. That Pennsylvania window,” said Snyder as she pointed at large letters that spell Pennsylvania in her storefront window. “I had letters fall off the other day when one went by that shook everything, and that's kind of scary.”

Now, the borough has hired an engineering firm to study how those trucks are impacting the downtown.

“The economic impacts to the vitality of the downtown,” said Kim Wheeler, the special projects manager for Lewisburg. “It's looking at the pavement conditions of the infrastructure, at not only of the Market Street, which is a PennDOT-owned state highway but also of the borough infrastructure and all of the collector streets that lead up to that arterial.”

The study's findings are expected to be released during a 6 p.m. public meeting on October 16 at the Campus Theater on Market Street.

People say it's sometimes hard to cross Market Street.

“I do think there is times, especially during the weekends, when there's a lot more pedestrian activity.

“It seems to be having issues,” said Shannon Davis from Winfield.

“It can damage the town, and that's, you know, the town's been here a long time. We'd rather it stays in better shape,” said Snyder.

The borough plans to share the findings with PennDOT to discuss if and how to move forward.

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