A car drives past the front entrance to Hartman Dental at 42 East Main Street in Lansdale on Wednesday night, Oct. 1, 2025. Photo by Dan Sokil | The Reporter.
Business owner had said patients could no longer access entrance after road re-striped
A sudden change that prompted a plea from a Main Street business could be partially reversed soon.
Borough officials say a fix is now in the works to reverse a loss of street parking on a block of East Main after that street was recently repaved.
“At our last meeting, a local business owner on East Main Street shared concerns regarding our upcoming plans to lengthen the left hand turning lane from East Main Street onto South Broad Street,” said borough Manager John Ernst.
“Once we became aware of these concerns, we worked closely with our traffic engineer, PennDOT, and the project contractor to find a solution, that balances safety with the needs of the business community,” he said.
During the Oct. 1 council and committee meetings, a business owner told that group that he and his employees were stunned when they arrived at the office the day before to find new stripes on the freshly-paved Main Street that had removed street parking on the eastbound lane of travel, and reconfigured the westbound left turn only lane.
At the time the dental business owner said the new traffic pattern and removal of street parking meant his dental patients were no longer able to access the front entrance to the business. Borough staff said the changing lane configuration had been discussed as far back as 2021 as a way to add extra space for traffic stacking and was meant to prevent drivers going the wrong way into the eastbound lane to get to the westbound turn lane.
On Oct. 15, Ernst gave an update on talks between town officials, their traffic engineer, and PennDOT since the issue was raised two weeks earlier.
“The result is a compromise: While the left hand turn lane will be lengthened, it will not extend the full distance originally planned, allowing on-street parking to remain available for local businesses, while at the same time allowing traffic to move smoothly and safely near the intersection of Main and Broad,”
The change was also detailed in a Facebook post by the borough, accompanied by an aerial photo of that stretch of East Main.
“This situation is a reminder that even the best intended plans can have unintended consequences, and we’re grateful to the business community for bringing these concerns forward,” Ernst said.
“We also appreciate everyone who worked quickly to reach an expedited resolution to this issue,” he added.
Council President Mary Fuller added her own thanks to staff for their help and the outside agencies for their quick response.
“We heard a problem, somebody from the business community brought it to our attention, and we were able to move more quickly than government tends to do, to find a solution. So thanks to everyone who was involved in that,” she said.
Lansdale’s borough council next meets at 8:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 and the public safety committee meets that night at 6:30 p.m., both at the borough municipal building, 1 Vine Street. For more information, visit www.Lansdale.org.
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