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 3026 (Airport Road) was the secondary access to the mall. The existing intersection was two-way stop controlled and operationally would not serve the expansion plans.

The main access roadway (Laurel Mall Drive) consisted of two in-bound and two out-bound lanes separated by a four-foot wide median. S.R. 3026 is an urban collector consisting of two through lanes in each direction west of the mall and one lane in each direction east of the mall with the transition occurring through the intersection.

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). A new signal permit plan was created to reflect the changes, and new intersection and signal design plans were prepared using AutoCAD.

Changes included loop detection on all approaches, geometric revisions to the existing islands and lane transitions, new signing and striping, new signal support structures and overhead signal heads, and a new solid state controller with hardwire interconnection to the next adjacent signal. The revisions improved traffic safety and access into the mall. Left turn queues into the mall have been substantially reduced without major degradations to the through movements. The new signal provides Level of Service B or better even during peak mall traffic periods.