LOWER MACUNGIE TWP., Pa. — Traffic safety concerns along one of the Lehigh Valley’s most heavily traveled corridors have taken center stage after a proposed major mixed-use development was approved last week.
The project, known as The Shoppes at Hamilton, would include 318 apartments, a 160-room hotel and roughly 20,000 square feet of retail space along North Krocks Road near the Route 222 bypass.
Lower Macungie Township Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to approve it.
While the development has been in the township pipeline for years, opponents argue its approval locks in worsening traffic conditions at an intersection long viewed as dangerous — without requiring any meaningful roadway improvements.
The lone dissenting vote came from Commissioner Ron R. Beitler, who warned that approving the plan without substantial changes would exacerbate an already failing traffic situation.
"I won’t vote to lock in a dangerous situation," Beitler said during the meeting. "It will not get better.”
Little change to a stressed roadway
At the heart of the dispute is the Route 222 bypass and its intersection with North Krocks Road, a stretch that residents and officials repeatedly have described as hazardous, particularly during peak travel times.
Under the final approval, the project requires virtually no significant traffic upgrades to the bypass.
Improvements on state-owned roads are largely governed by the state Department of Transportation, whose determinations shape what municipalities can legally demand from developers.
Former Commissioner Brian Higgins, who left office at the end of 2025, said that the gap between local concerns and PennDOT requirements ultimately drove his opposition to the project.
“When PennDOT did not require meaningful upgrades to the Route 222 bypass, I — and others — had serious concerns about moving forward.”Former Lower Macungie Township Commissioner Brian Higgins
“When PennDOT did not require meaningful upgrades to the Route 222 bypass, I — and others — had serious concerns about moving forward,” Higgins said in a lengthy post on the Friends for the Protection of Lower Macungie Facebook page following the vote.
Those concerns largely centered on pursuit of grade separation on the bypass — efforts that date back more than a decade.
In 2015, Lower Macungie Township commissioners lobbied state officials to petition the Lehigh Valley Transportation Study to prioritize funding for ramp improvements.
Those improvements would have let the bypass function as a limited-access facility (by definition, a highway or street designed for high-speed, high-volume through traffic where access from abutting properties is restricted or prohibited).
Grade separation would let traffic move at different elevations using overpasses, underpasses and ramps instead of intersecting at the same level, enabling continuous flow of traffic.
With approval of a massive apartment complex as part of the project, it may no longer be possible to build ramps and achieve grade separation at that intersection, officials said.
A familiar problem
The traffic concerns raised by Beitler and Higgins are shared by many residents who travel the corridor daily, including state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Bucks/Lehigh, who represents the area in Harrisburg.
“It doesn’t seem like PennDOT fully understands just how bad the bypass is in that location,” Coleman said Monday.
“The idea that we’re just going to kick the can and hope traffic isn’t going to have an impact doesn’t seem like a good strategy.”
Coleman said congestion at the intersection already is severe and well known to anyone who lives or drives in the area.
“If you’re from the Lehigh Valley and you’ve been through that stretch, you know traffic is already terrible,” he said. “The amount of traffic flowing through there has already surpassed what that roadway was designed to handle.”
Coleman also questioned the lack of a mitigation plan he considers meaningful.
“Even after final land approval, I have yet to see a mitigation for traffic from North Krocks Road to the bypass that I’m comfortable with,” he said.
Inconsistent standards?
Coleman and others also pointed to what they describe as inconsistent treatment of nearby developments.
Higgins highlighted a similar project [Lehigh Valley Town Center] one intersection away at Kressler Road that was required to make substantial roadway improvements — a requirement not imposed on The Shoppes at Hamilton.
“Why not this one? That question alone was worth pressing,” Higgins said.
“A ‘No’ vote may feel satisfying, but it ignores the legal framework and is nothing more than political grandstanding. It would with certainty trigger a lawsuit — one the Township would lose, based on precedent."Lower Macungie Township Commissioner Wes Barrett
Coleman agreed.
“The impact is dependent on the amount of impact of the development.
"I mean, what is wild is just the inconsistency in PennDOT and how they're treating two different projects like the Town Center project. PennDOT is making the developer up there jump through a ton of hoops.”
Lawsuit fears factor into vote
Planning commission members unanimously recommended approval of the final plan for the Shoppes at Hamilton in June 2025, despite these concerns.
The board delayed final action several times before voting last week.
Ahead of the vote, Commissioner Wes Barrett publicly raised concerns that denying the plan could trigger litigation the township likely would lose.
“The prior Board’s conditional approval is legally binding," Barrett wrote on Facebook. "This is not blaming the previous board, they proposed every condition they legally could.
“A ‘No’ vote may feel satisfying, but it ignores the legal framework and is nothing more than political grandstanding. It would with certainty trigger a lawsuit — one the Township would lose, based on precedent."
That risk weighed on several commissioners before Thursday’s vote.
“A denial would have triggered litigation — but assuming defeat is short-sighted,” Higgins argued. “Governing bodies are elected to weigh risks and make difficult decisions in the best interest of residents.”
The township previously denied developments over traffic safety concerns tied to PennDOT requirements — including an apartment complex proposed along Brookside Road in 2024.
While the township ultimately lost that appeal, former commissioners have said those denials were necessary to push back against unsafe roadway conditions.
Election reshapes outcome
Opponents of the project argue that last November’s election directly influenced the final outcome.
Three newly elected commissioners — Stefanie Rafes, Melissa Bosak and Barrett — joined Maury Robert in voting to approve the project.
Beitler cast the lone “no” vote.
Supporters of the project have said development along major corridors is inevitable under current zoning.
Critics counter that approving the project without traffic improvements sacrifices safety for expediency.
“A situation that is failing from a level of service standpoint today will now get worse,” Higgins wrote.
While construction timelines have not yet been announced, the approval clears the way for development to move forward along one of the region’s busiest roadways.
For residents concerned about congestion and safety, the decision leaves lingering questions about how future traffic will be managed — and how much leverage local governments truly have when state transportation standards fall short of local concerns.
“This isn’t about politics,” Higgins argued. “It’s about sound judgment and advocacy for the community.”
