Valley Forge Laboratories, Inc.

Location:   Borough of Hazleton, Luzerne County

Client:   Laurel Mall

Description:
The project was started in 1992 in conjunction with a planned mall expansion. The mall originally contained over 600,000 square feet of retail space, with the expansion bringing the total to over 1 million square feet of retail space. The access from State Route 93 was the main access to the mall. The existing traffic signal was installed in the mid-70’s and would not serve the expansion plans and operationally or equipment-wise.

The main access roadway (Laurel Mall Drive) consisted of three in-bound and two out-bound lanes separated by a four-foot wide median. S.R, 0093 is an urban arterial consisting of two through lanes and a left turn lane in each direction separated by a 10 foot wide grass median, along with a separate right turn lane into the mall.

VFL’s work included traffic data collection, intersection capacity analysis (utilizing HCS), trip projections, signal warrant analyses, and intersection modeling and signal timing optimization (Transyt7-F). The existing signal permit plan was modified to reflect the changes, and new intersection and signal design plans were prepared using AutoCAD.

Changes included new timings, new loop detection on all approaches, geometric revisions to the existing islands, new signing and striping, new signal support structures and overhead signal heads, and a new solid state controller. These revisions improved traffic safety and access into the mall with the revised signal timings providing better levels of service than existed before the expansion. Left turn queues into the mall have been substantially reduced without major degradations to the through movements. The revised signal timings provide Level of Service C or better even during peak mall traffic periods.