The collapse of a century-old rock retaining wall supporting Route 209 between Nesquehoning and Jim Thorpe is causing traffic concerns in Lansford, as people navigate the detour.

East Patterson Street resident John Hosak told borough council that he’s seen increased traffic along the highway where he lives and vehicles stacked up at traffic lights.

People on the west side of the closure at Route 93 at the base of Broad Mountain must use Route 209 into Lansford.

The official detour routes people to Route 309 in Tamaqua and then Route 443, but most people are opting for the shorter path to Jim Thorpe, taking Route 902 into Summit Hill and then onto Lentz Trail.

Those vehicles waiting to make the turn toward Summit Hill are stacking up on Patterson, as well as Route 902, which is Springgarden Street, where another traffic light halts traffic.

“What I’m asking is that could somebody from the borough maybe check with PennDOT to adjust possibly the traffic lights here in town from Patterson Street and Springgarden going up to Summit Hill?” Hosak asked borough council at a workshop meeting Tuesday night.

He suggested doing something with the lights at Patterson and Springgarden streets, as well as Springgarden and Bertsch streets.

“You know what I mean?” Hosak asked. “So, the traffic from Nesquehoning could flow up and the traffic coming down could go to Nesquehoning a heck of a lot faster, because it really gets congested at certain times.”

Council President Joseph Genits said maybe putting the traffic light at Bertsch and Springgarden to a constant yellow with stop signs on Bertsch Street would be solution, asking for council’s input.

Councilman Joseph Butrie said he thought the police department could switch the lights off but wasn’t sure if that was still the case. He offered to call the state Department of Transportation regarding the signals.

Resident Tommy Vadyak pointed out that PennDOT doesn’t pay for adjustments to lights; the borough has to pay a contractor, such as Telco, to do so.

Councilman Bruce Markovich said the borough has to do something, because he has seen traffic backed up from Chestnut Street to the Family Dollar store at the end of town.

“If we have some kind of emergency along the way, how are we going to get emergency vehicles to the emergency?” he asked. “We got to get this traffic off the street.

“We got to get it moving as quickly as possible and get it out of here, because somebody’s going to suffer for it,” Markovich said.

Butrie planned to check with PennDOT to see what it could do to ease the congestion.

Another resident, Ron Peck, raised issues with a school bus stop at Walnut and Ridge streets, where motorists blow through the intersection while buses are loading and unloading.

The situation has only been made worse with the added detour traffic coming through town, and drivers routing themselves around backups toward Ridge Street, he said.

Peck suggested a temporary stop sign to control the traffic at the intersection, maybe one with solar-powered flashing red lights to make it more visible.

Genits said that Mayor Denise Leibensperger may have the authority to place temporary stop signs. The mayor did not attend the work session Tuesday.

Peck again asked to have the bus stop moved, because it’s been an issue and a child is going to get hurt.

Council debated moving the bus stops back to Patterson Street and adding additional crossing guards.

Vadyak pointed out that in Tamaqua the police monitor the bus stops, and resident Erin Soberick asked why they don’t have police officers at the bus stops in the morning.

Councilwoman Michele Bartek said that they could request officers to be at the bus stops without crossing guards in the morning.

“We are allowed to dictate what our officers are going to do if we need them, and to get in touch with the mayor,” she said. “We need them there. I don’t see why we’re paying all this money for police cars that nobody ever drives.”

Councilwoman Gwyneth Collevechio said that the road closure is going to be six to eight weeks, and the borough needs to act quickly to fix the issues, and assigning police to watch to bus stop corners is the quickest fix.

Bartek agreed and said they need to address the issue with the mayor and see if she can rearrange the police schedule to accommodate council’s request.

Butrie also suggested putting an empty patrol vehicle at Walnut and Ridge streets a couple days a week to act as a deterrent.

“They’ll stop, they’ll slow down,” Butrie said. “They got three police cars. Just take one and park it on Walnut Street.”