Public safety, shelters and bike lanes: How Bethlehem sees its next 5 years of capital upgrades

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — The City Planning Commission has forwarded a five-year, $102 million capital spending plan to City Council.

Council will have the final say on how to pay for things as diverse as bike lanes along West Broad Street, new trees and lights at Rose Garden Park, and armored vehicle replacement for police.

The 14-page non-utility capital improvement program stands separate from the operating budget, with some of the work listed pending further grant approval, city Director of Planning and Zoning Cathy Fletcher said.

“Not everything in this plan is necessarily guaranteed to happen, but it helps us prioritize projects, look for funding and it also shows the public what we’re anticipating,” Fletcher said.

A general look ahead

Here’s a broad overview of some of the proposed spending schedule:

• $5.7 million for congregate emergency (federal funding) and $2.86 million for non-congregate emergency family shelter efforts (city general fund and federal/state funding)
• $1 million for the planned South Bethlehem Community Center 
• $378,000-$459,000 per year to replace five to eight police vehicles annually
• $342,000 in federal/state funding for a new police armored vehicle replacement
• $3.775 million for two new fire apparatuses (one engine and one ladder), though there’s a four-year wait
• $350,000-$800,000 for ambulances (one new ambulance per year to keep up the eight-vehicle fleet)
• $250,000 for a paint truck (some covered by provisions from American Rescue Plan money) and $250,000 for aerial bucket truck for Electrical Bureau 
• $14 million for street paving (260+ miles of roadway in the city). Basel Yandem, deputy public works director and chief of engineering for the city, said it would cost 30-40% more to pay a contractor to complete the work as needed.
• New $485,000 milling machine and $285,000 asphalt paver
• $1.9 million in federal funding for a two-way conversion along Linden Street
• $1.3 million from a mix of sources to connect the South Bethlehem Greenway with the Saucon Rail Trail 
• $957,000 for Monocacy Way Trail Phase 2 (Yandem said the design is done, and the work will be bid out soon for a spring 2026 construction.)
• $10 million from a mix of sources for the 10-year parks master plan
• $200,000 for Rose Garden improvements, including $300,000 in state and recreation fees 
• $100,000 from a mix of sources for general pool improvements.

Yandem said “the biggest project coming to the city happening over the next five years” includes the roadway and pedestrian safety improvements along the eastern and western ends of Broad Street.

About $12.8 million for West Broad and $942,000 for East Broad would both come from a mix of sources. Work should begin in spring 2026 and spring 2027, respectively, and be done by 2029, Yandem said.

Paying down debt

Bethlehem Business Administrator Eric Evans said the city has historically relied on about $5 million in bonds every other year to cover projects during that time.

The last borrowing was in 2019, and about $77,000 is all that’s left, Evans said.

He said officials plan to share an outlook on how the city can make it to 2030 without taking on any additional debt; the last time debt was approved was before 2019.

In 2015, Bethlehem was around $170M in debt.

Evans said that will be down to $34 million by the end of the five-year plan.

“It's a shedding of tens and ten of millions of dollars of debt, which is going to increase our bond rating,” Evans said.

“It's gonna lower interest rates. It has already strengthened our balance sheet to improve our liquidity and give us more flexibility in our operating budget for years to come as we follow this plan."