For quite a while, the Pleasant Valley School Board and the community have known about the Pennsylvania Department of transportation’s plans for a pair of roundabouts on Route 209. One is slated for the intersection of Route 209 and Route 115. The other is at the entrance to Pleasant Valley High School at Pleasant Valley Way.

At Thursday night’s school board meeting, James Lynch, a partner at D’Huy Engineering Inc. in Bethlehem, filled in the details.

Lynch said the road construction project is expected to take about four years to accomplish and will include the widening both Route 209 and Route 115 from two to four lanes around the school campus.

There are also four campus intersection improvements. The largest of these is at the intersection with Pilgrim Way. A realignment is needed, along with a possible traffic signal, he said.

“The largest point of contention is the roundabout at Pleasant Valley Way,” Lynch said.

The roundabout is a two-lane roundabout, which means that two lanes of traffic run around the circle, not one lane.

“It’s fairly sizable,” he said.

North of the roundabout on Route 209 toward Route 115, the road has a Jersey barrier. If a vehicle traveling toward the school wants to access a business on the other side of the road, then the driver will have to use the roundabout as a U-turn, Lynch said.

“Certainly, it’s a decision that in our opinion is not in the best interest of the school district,” he said.

Lynch said that the design team for PennDOT originally recommended a signalized intersection instead of a roundabout, after they had all of the traffic counts and study information compiled. A signal takes less land and stops traffic at dismissal. It also has the advantage of not taking away staff parking spots that are adjacent to the right of way.

Lynch explained that they chose the roundabout to keep traffic moving so that it wouldn’t build up between the roundabout at routes 115 and 209 and Pleasant Valley Way. Roundabouts are designed to keep traffic moving, not stop it like a traffic signal does.

“I think we’ve made it clear in no uncertain terms that as a school district, you are unhappy with the idea of student drivers leaving the campus and trying to navigate this roundabout, particularly if they have to cross a lane of traffic in order to head northbound on 209,” he said.

Lynch said that PennDOT received the letter from the school district about their concerns, and “rejected all of the items that we had broached.”

He said he has consulted with other professionals in his field and they told them there is very little they can do about it.

“I don’t think we want to go down without strenuously voicing the concerns that you have,” he said.

If a roundabout is inevitable, he said there is one option: put a traffic light in it to be used at dismissal.

School Board President Donna Yozwiak thanked Lynch for his presentation.

“My level of concern has been raised even more,” she said. “As I’m looking at the (graphic of the) roundabout right smack dab in the middle of our front yard of the high school, I’m envisioning two school buses or a tractor-trailer and a school bus simultaneously going around the roundabout in unison.”

School board Director Laura Jecker asked, “How do we stop this from happening?”

School district solicitor Mark Fitzgerald said there are some avenues to combat it. he said it is something he can discuss with the school board in a closed session.

Jecker suggested that the community write to their representatives and express their concerns about the roundabout.

Superintendent Lee Lesisko also thanked Lynch for the presentation and said, “I think what you’re hearing tonight is this issue is far from over.”