Rock slide on Mansion House Hill disables vehicle

A vehicle was disabled after running over rocks along the Mansion House Hill between Lehighton and Jim Thorpe Thursday afternoon.

The rock slide occurred at 3:50 p.m., at which time a motorist from Easton ran over the rocks, disabling the vehicle, according to Mahoning Township Police Chief Audie Mertz.

Mertz said the driver was a woman, and that it was only the right lane of the roadway along Route 209 between Lehighton and Jim Thorpe that was shut down following the incident.

The area was cleared by the state Department of Transportation within about 10 minutes, Mertz said.

Rock slides are nothing new to that area.

A rock slide on Sept. 8 spilled tons of huge boulders onto the southbound lane of Route 209.

One car was damaged, though no one was injured from that incident.

Work to clean up the remnants of that rock slide began Oct. 11, and was initially expected to take three weeks to complete.

But the project wrapped up early on Oct. 19.

PennDOT will hold a public meeting for the proposed Route 209 Mansion House Hill Rock Slide Mitigation Project and associated road improvements in Mahoning Township.

The meeting will take place at 6 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Mahoning Township Municipal Building. An open house will be held from 5:30-6 p.m.

Its purpose is to update the public and local communities on the current design of this transportation improvement project and the results of recent environmental studies.

The meeting will consist of an open house plans display, and a brief presentation as part of the regularly scheduled Mahoning Township board of supervisors meeting.

Residents will have an opportunity to meet and discuss the project with PennDOT’s design team.