Day 13 – Your commute to and from work/school/etc.

Day 13 – Your commute to and from work/school/etc.

Well, it’s been 45 years since I graduated from college and 9 years since I stopped working (at least at something that paid me, one never actually stops working). So I’ll instead comment on the changes in my commute over the 30+ years that I worked at Air Products.

We moved to PA in 1975, bought a piece of property in 1976, and moved into our current house in Zionsville in August of 1977. So from then until I retired in April of 2007 (nearly 30 years, this was the starting point of my commute. At Air Products, I worked for the first year or so in Emmaus, then a brief period in Trexlertown, then in Wescosville for a couple of years, then back in Trexlertown until my retirement. Since much of the route to Wescosville is the same as to Trexlertown, these comments about my commute cover that entire nearly 30 year period.

When we first moved to Zionsville, people would comment to us, “Why did you move way out there, people will never come see you.” But we were merely ahead of our time. My commute was out to Route 100/29, then down the hill on Route 100, bearing right on East Macungie Rd, and continuing on Brookside Rd. Then it was left on Lower Macungie Rd which ended right across the street from one of the gates into the Air Products complex. It was about 10 miles.

In the beginning there were almost no traffic lights. But as this end of the Lehigh Valley got more and more populated, they kept adding them. It’s hard to believe now, but even very busy intersections like Brookside Rd and Lower Macungie Rd used to be just stop signs on Lower Macungie Rd. The lights that were added over the years included those on Brookside at Buckeye Rd, at Sauerkraut Ln, and at Lower Macungie Rd, and those on Lower Macungie Rd at Dorney Printing, at East Texas Rd, at Krocks Rd, at LMMS, at Mill Rd, and at Church Ln. So even with the improvements in road surfaces and added lanes, the time for the commute continued to increase over the years with all the lights and all the added traffic.

Even so, the way I traveled was still considered a “back way” and had less traffic than for those commuting from Allentown along Hamilton Blvd. And toward the end it was still only a 15-20 minute drive. But in the years since I retired it has gotten worse. The wait during “rush hour” at the light in Shimerville has gotten longer and longer as has the amount of traffic on Lower Macungie Rd. I’m happy to be spending that time at home instead of in a car waiting at a light in the morning!