An estimated $100,000 comprehensive transportation study is ready to move forward in Jim Thorpe Borough pending the stakeholders deciding how to divvy up their portion of the project.

Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance was instrumental in securing a federal grant that requires a 20 percent match, meaning borough council and possibly other interested parties would be on the hook for $20,000.Council questioned Thursday night whether they would be responsible for the entire $20,000 match.“There are certainly others with skin in the game,” said Alan Baranski, vice president of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Alliance’s transportation planning services division. “In fact, we’re looking at our next step which is to get together a steering committee and some of the groups I thought about right off the bat might include the county, the local tourist railroad excursion (Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad) and the Pocono Mountain Vacation Bureau.Between the borough and NEPA, they planned on reaching out to those entities to gauge their interest in contributing to the $20,000 match.Local developer Jake Arner said he’d like to see hotel room rental excise tax money go toward the study.That money is collected by the county and distributed by an agency such as the Pocono Mountain Visitors Bureau to fund tourism promotion in the area“It’s very obvious a lot of the traffic problem downtown is caused by the backup of traffic going into the county parking lot,” he said. “It’s, in large part, created by tourism and the point of the hotel tax is to help put more heads in beds. I think this study would help to do that and be a good use of the money.”Baranski said the study started out as just a look at the borough’s parking situation, but NEPA quickly saw how traffic patterns and the interaction between different modes of transportation plays into the issue.“The borough has a strong economic vitality and really, this is a good problem to have,” he said. “The study will be done over the course of 12 months and we’re hopeful it will have input from the in the tourism industry, local businesses and residents as well. This is not a unique problem with a tourist destination and we want to get into the weeds of the matter.”Councilman John McGuire said he’d like to see the study focus mostly on parking. There isn’t an area in town not affected by it, he said.“There is a big issue on West Broadway because you have residents that need to park up there and you also have tourists parking up there,” McGuire said. “All over town we need to do something.”After the steering committee is formed and a scope of services is finalized, the study will be put out for bid. Baranski said he hopes to have a consultant on board by the fall, in time for Jim Thorpe’s popular three-weekend Fall Foliage Festival.In speaking with consultants in the transportation study field, he added, NEPA is confident $100,000 is more than sufficient “to get a really good study.”At the end of the study, the consultant will offer suggestions for improvements.“Some of them may involve capital expenditures,” Baranski said. “However, the borough will be in a good position to go after some additional funding. When you have a comprehensive, professional study like this and you can show the projects are ready to go, you have a better chance when going after grants.”Jim Thorpe Mayor Michael Sofranko said parking and traffic concerns are the biggest complaint the borough hears on a consistent basis.“Nobody up here has the facts or figures or expertise to really tackle this in the way that this study can provide,” Sofranko said. “I’m thankful of council’s support for the study moving forward.”