STROUDSBURG, Pa. — It's the end of an era and the beginning of a new one at the Monroe County Courthouse in Stroudsburg.
One of the first trials of 2024 began Thursday inside the new courthouse building. The building is part of a massive multi-million dollar expansion to add space and improve court proceedings.
"We're going to have eight new courtrooms and then still holding on to Courtroom 1 will become Courtroom Number 9," said Erik Story, who is the project manager for the Monroe County Courthouse expansion project.
Story says the most important improvement is for those attending trials in the county.
From new speakers, microphones, hearing aid sets for jurors, and special acoustic wall paneling, new technology will allow for a streamlined process for all to hear and see the facts of a case clearer than before.
"Where you would come across where somebody would be physically presenting paper evidence, these things can be previewed by the judge and then routed to the specific tables and then to the screen for the jurors to see once it's been approved," Story said.
For anyone visiting the courthouse, one of the biggest changes will be a new entrance area. Two new metal detectors have been installed to allow employees and the public to get in and out of the building safer and faster.
"The judges have their secure area as well as the defendants with the addition of a sally port and a holding area downstairs and in between the courtrooms on each floor."
Despite the massive step forward in the expansion, work still needs to be completed on the courthouse annex.
"The first and third floors are completed as far as we can take them," Story said. "We have the second floor to finish up, and that relies on the heating equipment we talked about before, getting the old one offline and the new one installed. And then we have the basement of the annex."
Story says over the next several weeks, the main entrance to the courthouse will switch to the new building.
Work on the building is expected to be completed in August. After that, construction will resume on the courthouse annex.
Plans for the courthouse expansion were announced four years ago. Work began in 2021, but supply chain issues delayed the construction timeline.
Proceedings at the courthouse were shut down numerous times in 2018 after a series of threats were phoned in to the facility. Two people were convicted and sentenced for the threats in 2019.