Pennsylvania Route 402 (PA 402) is a north–south
state route
A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...
in the
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
counties of
Pike
Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to:
Fish
* Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus''
* Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes
* ''Esox'', genus of ...
and
Monroe. The southern terminus of the route is at
U.S. Route 209 Business (US 209 Bus.) in the
Smithfield Township village of
Marshalls Creek. The northern terminus is at
US 6 in
Palmyra Township.
PA 402 was designated in 1928 between
US 611 north of
Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.
The gap makes up the southern portion of the Delaware Water Gap N ...
and US 6 in Palmyra Township. The route at the southern terminus became
PA 612 in the 1930s before PA 402 was extended south to US 611 (now
PA 611 in Delaware Water Gap in the 1940s, replacing a portion of PA 612. PA 402 was realigned to end at an interchange with
Interstate 80 (I-80) and US 611 in Delaware Water Gap by 1961. The southern terminus was cut back to
US 209
U.S. Route 209 (US 209) is a long U.S. Highway in the states of Pennsylvania and New York. Although the route is a spur of US 9, US 209 never intersects US 9, coming within five miles of the route and making the short c ...
in Marshalls Creek in the summer of 1962, with most of the former route south of there becoming a realigned US 209.
In 1991, a proposal to realign PA 402 and US 209 around the village of Marshalls Creek was proposed. Originally, PA 402 ended at a junction with US 209 and US 209 Business in Marshalls Creek. Over the years, the junction and the village had become heavily congested and a bypass was the only way to relieve traffic. After numerous delays for environmental issues, PA 402's new alignment had construction begin in 2005. Construction was suspended in 2008 and abandoned as PennDOT wanted a new bypass constructed without a realignment of PA 402. The new bypass was completed in June 2012, when US 209 was realigned away from the southern terminus of PA 402, which ended at US 209 Bus. instead.
Route description
PA 402 begins at a junction with
US 209 Bus. (Milford Road or SR 2012) in the village of
Marshalls Creek in
Smithfield Township. PA 402 proceeds north along Resica Falls Road, leaving the village of Marshalls Creek after crossing the namesake tributary. Soon crossing into
Middle Smithfield Township, PA 402 bends northeast, crossing south of White Heron Lake and through the lakeside residential area. At Oak Grove Drive, PA 402 bends northward again, passing a small pond and bypassing Pocono Highlands Lake after turning northeast at Coolbaugh Drive.
![2022-08-09 09 04 19 will rename and categorize soon 007](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/2022-08-09_09_04_19_will_rename_and_categorize_soon_007.jpg)
PA 402 soon reaches the village of Poplar Bridge, reaching the Middle Smithfield Township Park at the north end of the village. Passing the Country Club of the Poconos, the route turns northward through a residential area surrounded by woods. This soon recedes to just woods, soon crossing over the Bush Kill, right next to
Resica Falls, which drop less than a from the roadway. North of the Bush Kill, the route passes Timber Mountain Drive and soon returns to the dense woods before crossing the county line from
Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe:
* Monroe County, Alabama
*Monroe County, Arkansas
* Monroe County, Florida
* Monroe County, Georgia
*Monroe County, Illinois
*Monroe County, Indian ...
to
Pike County. Now in
Porter Township, crossing through the dense woods until passing Twelvemile Pond.
The route winds northward through woods in Porter Township for several miles, passing a small parking lot and a junction with Old Bushkill Road. After a bend to the northwest, PA 402 reaches
Porters Lake
Porters Lake (2011 population: 3,202) is a rural community in the Eastern Shore region of the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, between Trunk 7 and Route 207, 27.8 km from Halifax. The residents mainly commute to jobs in Dartmouth, Burnside ...
, a large lake marking the center of Porter Township. The route then moves northwest and crosses Pickerel Lake. PA 402 continues northwest through more woodlands, soon reaching the village of Pecks Pond, a residential community on the southwest end of the namesake pond. At the junction with Ness Road, PA 402 turns northeast along the lakeshore, soon passing a junction with a former alignment of itself. The route crosses into
Blooming Grove Township, continuing northwest through the rural portions of Pike County.
The route soon bends north, passing through woods east of Lake Scott, soon reaching an interchange with
I-84
Interstate 84 may refer to:
* Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N
* Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts)
Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...
(exit 30; formerly 8
). Just north of the interchange, PA 402 intersects with
SR 4004, which connects to
PA 434 and
PA 739 at its eastern terminus. The route winds northward through Blooming Grove Township, passing White Deer Lake Access, soon bending northwest again. The route bends northward, crossing into
Palmyra Township, soon reaching a clearing and a junction with
US 6. This junction serves as the northern terminus of PA 402, just east of the junction with
PA 507.
History
PA 402 was assigned by the
Pennsylvania Department of Highways
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...
in the 1928 renumbering of state highways in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The route at the time of designation, was assigned from
US 611 at the
Brodhead Creek
Brodhead Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 tributary of the Delaware River in the Poconos of eastern Pennsylvania in the United States.Gertler, ...
north of
Delaware Water Gap
Delaware Water Gap is a water gap on the border of the U.S. states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania where the Delaware River cuts through a large ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.
The gap makes up the southern portion of the Delaware Water Gap N ...
to US 6 in Palmyra Township, just outside the village of Friendly Acres, crossing
US 209
U.S. Route 209 (US 209) is a long U.S. Highway in the states of Pennsylvania and New York. Although the route is a spur of US 9, US 209 never intersects US 9, coming within five miles of the route and making the short c ...
in the village of Marshalls Creek. At this time, the entire length of the route was unpaved.
However, the route, not up to state standards, was completely under construction to meet said standards, with the portion between Marshalls Creek and Snowhill Road at Twelvemile Pond being completed in 1931.
The following year, 1932, the portion between Twelvemile Pond and US 6 was completed.
The section between Delaware Water Gap and Marshalls Creek was completed in the 1930s. By this time, the southern terminus was at
PA 612 after that route swapped alignments with US 611.
PA 402 was extended south along Paper Mill Road to end at US 611 (now
PA 611) in Delaware Water Gap in the 1940s after the PA 612 designation was decommissioned.
By 1961, PA 402 was realigned to use River Road between an interchange with
I-80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...
and US 611 in Delaware Water Gap and north of the Brodhead Creek.
On June 1, 1962, the southern terminus of PA 402 was cut back to US 209 in Marshalls Creek, with the section between
Minisink Hills and Marshalls Creek becoming a realigned US 209 while the former alignment south of there is now unnumbered River Road and Gap View Drive.
[ ]
Marshalls Creek Bypass
![PA 402 at US 209 Business](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/PA_402_at_US_209_Business.jpg)
A bypass of the southern terminus of PA 402 was proposed in 1991 to deter traffic off the congested intersection with US 209 and US 209 Bus. in the village of Marshalls Creek. The same year, the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...
(PennDOT) got involved in the feasibility study, and preliminary engineering work was finished in 1995. The project, notorious for delays, first hit a barrier in 1997, when a pair of species of endangered fish (Bridle shiners and Iron-colored shiners) were found in Marshalls Creek. In 2000, after a Final Environmental Impact Statement had been completed, the route was approved by the
Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...
. In 2004, a delay was created again, when
pyrite
The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Iron, FeSulfur, S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral.
Pyrite's metallic Luster (mineralogy), lust ...
was found in the area, which led to engineers finding a way to not harm the fish in Marshalls Creek.
By that point, the project had been delayed to opening in 2008, 17 years after the proposal had been developed. Construction began on the new bypass of Marshalls Creek in 2005, with Phase I of the project, which wrapped up in 2007 under the eye of J.D. Eckman Inc., an
Atglen-based contractor.
The original bypass plan had PA 402 being realigned at the junction with Oak Grove Drive, onto a new alignment that would have crossed over the Marshalls Creek and terminated at an interchange with US 209 at the northern end of the bypass.
In 2008, officials at PennDOT thought about a smaller bypass proposal, which would connect US 209 and US 209 Bus. and not cross Pond Creek.
![SR 0402 abandoned alignment](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/SR_0402_abandoned_alignment.JPG)
At the same time, work was suspended in April for rising costs of the new bypass. Instead of costing $68 million (2008
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
), the cost of the new bypass had inflated to $200 million and the future of the project came into question. This upset local residents, who sold their land for the construction of the bypass, which was partially constructed for PA 402. Locals, some of whom who had been in the area for decades, started comparing the bypass shutdown as another version of the
Tocks Island Dam project from 1956–1992, which led to numerous demonstrations to protect the
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock (village), New York, Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of N ...
. At this point, PennDOT had to scale down the project and had no intent of the new PA 402 alignment to an interchange being finished, after grading and paving for the new alignment had already been started on the new alignment.
The Marshalls Creek Bypass was redesigned as a new project with a new
park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...
at the Pocono Bazaar to the northeast of Marshalls Creek with an extended Oak Grove Drive, which would run around the back of the Bazaar and come to a new intersection with US 209 and a new bypass of the village of Marshalls Creek of US 209 only.
Construction on the park and ride began in 2009, marking the beginning of the third and final phase of the project. Construction on the US 209 bypass was slated for Spring 2010, with a 2.5 year span of completion at the cost of $20 million (2009 USD). The bypass opened on June 11, 2012, and PA 402's southern terminus became US 209 Bus. as US 209 was rerouted onto the new bypass.
Major intersections
PA 402 Truck
Pennsylvania Route 402 Truck is a
truck route
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...
around a weight-restricted bridge over the Shohola Creek on which trucks over 34 tons and combination loads over 40 tons are prohibited. It follows Silver Lake Road,
PA 739. and I-84. The route was signed in 2013.
See also
*
Mountain Lake House
*
*
References
External links
*
{{good article
402
__NOTOC__
Year 402 (Roman numerals, CDII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Arcadius and Honorius (or, less frequent ...
Transportation in Monroe County, Pennsylvania
Transportation in Pike County, Pennsylvania