Road construction on MacArthur Road came under scrutiny at the recent Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners meeting.

Township resident Jeff Warren expressed dissatisfaction with the project known as the Route 145/MacArthur Safety Improvement Project because PennDOT did not replace sidewalks in the neighborhood of an apartment complex along Mechanicsville Road, near the Whitehall-Coplay School District campus.

However, Warren said a PennDOT program, Safe Routes to Schools, could be tapped for funding to provide safe access for students.

Warren suggested township and school officials write a letter to Penn-DOT requesting sidewalks be installed. If they are not done through the current Route 145 Safety Project, then the Safe Routes to School grant could provide funding.

Warren said the township project has been downsized while others in PennDOT's District 5 were upgraded.

"They took our sidewalk, scaled back the improvements and some of it was a federal earmark for the project, so what is not spent here in the township is spent somewhere else," Warren said.

He added PennDOT is installing sidewalks on both sides of Route 412, which is also undergoing construction.

Warren also suggested installing some kind of pedestrian access from MacArthur Road to school district property, saying a student was struck last year while walking to Wawa on the east side of Route 145.