Plans are under way to improve three intersections in Upper Nazareth Township:

• Route 248 at Gracedale Avenue and Alms House Road (a little more than $1 milion)
• Route 191 and Rose Inn Avenue ($600,000)
• Route 248 and 946 ($1,060,000)

Officials studied 21 intersections and determined that these three will need to be upgraded within 10 years or sooner.

The projects were discussed as supervisors on Nov. 17 approved a Transportation Capital Improvements Plan that will allow the township to establish a transportation impact fee on new developments.

The fee, according to Al Kortze, the township's engineer, is "essentially monies that developers will now have to contribute for potential intersection upgrades. Those monies would then be put towards those improvements," Kortze added.

The projects will cost a total of almost $2.7 million with the township planning to pay about $437,000. A new traffic impact fee to be imposed on developers will generate the additional $2.5 million for the projects.

According to Kortze, each municipality can determine its own traffic impact fee. In Upper Nazareth, the fee will be $1,080 per vehicle trip, per peak hour, which is 4:30-5:30 p.m. in the township. For example, as determined by the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the residents of a single-family home make an average of 10 daily trips, one of which happens during the peak hour. So for a 20-home subdivision, a developer would pay $1,080 times 20.

Municipalities are allowed to levy impact fees as a result of 1990's Pennsylvania Act 209, which permits "municipalities to assess transportation impact fees on new development within their boundaries, provided they have adopted a municipal transportation impact fee ordinance in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Act."

Upper Nazareth began the process 18 months ago creating a committee of residents and business owners who worked closely with Keystone Consulting Engineers. They developed a Land Use Assumptions Report, which projected the township's growth and development during the next 10 years.

A Roadway Sufficiency Report was the third step in the process. The committee chose 21 intersections to be studied. "We determined the level of service, or how efficient each intersection was, and looked to see which intersections would (need traffic signals) or other improvements within that 10-year period," said Kortze.

Kortze noted that the impact fee will only be assessed on new developments.

The Transportation Capital Improvements Plan can be revisited and changed. "There may not be a need for improvements if there wasn't as much development or growth as we anticipated," Kortze said.

Supervisors next need to pass an ordinance establishing the impact fee now that the Transportation Capital Improvements Plan has been approved.

The next Upper Nazareth Township Board of Supervisor's meeting will be held December 15. Meetings are held on the first and third Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m.