Hanover Township Manager Sandra Pudliner presented the township council with a response, approved by township Solicitor Jackson Eaton, to a PennDOT request for a truck access route through the township, in conjunction with the proposed FedEx hub in Allen Township. The township's response was presented at its meeting May 7.

FedEx, through their developer, Rockefeller Group, proposed establishing a million-square-foot warehouse hub in Allen Township for ground delivery operations. The proposal is under consideration by Allen Township.

The hub received approval from the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission.

Traffic from the proposed hub is expected to significantly impact Hanover Township as it will be routed through the township as it passes from Route 22 to the proposed hub in the neighboring township.

Hanover officials have asked for information about what was provided in the original proposal to Allen Township.

Although Hanover has no decision-making authority over the hub, traffic studies presented by the developer showed truck traffic traveling down Willowbrook Road to Race Street and over to Airport Road and Schoenersville Road to gain access to Route 22.

Hanover Township is responsible for Willowbrook Road. The developer asked for approval for truck access lanes through the township.

In the denial letter, Pudliner outlined information township officials requested from the developer early in the process.

The primary complaint from the township is the plans, as submitted, are incomplete and do not provide sufficient information for the township to make a decision on the hub's impact.

Specifically, Pudliner said existing plans call for Willowbrook to be expanded to four lanes 12 to 14 feet wide, but there are no specifics on the width of the cart way. Turning lanes from Willowbrook to Race Street are not shown, nor are there plans for upgraded signaling at the intersection.

Importantly for the township, there is no description of the non-airport owned property needed for the new highways.

Another primary consideration for the township: where are the revenues coming from that will pay for the maintenance of a heavy usage superhighway?

Presently, Hanover has responsibility for traffic signals at the intersection of Race Street and Airport Road.

The proposed plan will widen Race Street, but there is no indication of what properties will be taken. Race Street borders the airport, but the terrain is difficult to build on.

In Pudliner's letter, she outlined the township's position.

"The volume, length and weight of truck traffic generated by the proposed project is of such magnitude that the township finds it cannot reasonably give approval of the application at this time because of the absence of basic roadway engineering information," she wrote. The approval is not without reservation.

"Hanover Township will be glad to reconsider its decision once it has received the appropriate plans and information," she explained.

No one is sure what the repercussions of the township's denial might be. Conceivably, the state could take over Willowbrook Road, though that is considered an unlikely occurrence.

There is significant political pressure to have the FedEx hub approved. It is possible PennDOT will take time to address the township's concerns.

In a related matter, PennDOT recently denied the township's application, under the Freedom of Information Act, for traffic data that would allow local evaluation of potential traffic congestion on ramps leading to Route 22.

Eaton explained the appeal process is moving forward. Neither the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission nor the developer's traffic engineers addressed congestion on Route 22 because increased truck and vehicular traffic on the heavily traveled highway was not included as a requirement. Hanover Township performed a partial study of the impact on Route 22, but did not have sufficient data to determine delays caused by ramp loading. PennDOT claims ramp data is confidential.