Editing Tamaqua, Pennsylvania (section)

==Transportation==
===Roads and highways===
{{Further|Pennsylvania Route 309}}
[[File:Tamaqua Railroad Station.jpg|thumb|[[Tamaqua station]] in July 2010]]
The main highway in Tamaqua is [[Pennsylvania Route 309]], which connects it with [[Allentown, Pennsylvania|Allentown]] and [[Philadelphia]] to its south and [[Hazleton, Pennsylvania|Hazleton]] and [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania|Wilkes-Barre]] to its north, where it continues as [[Pennsylvania Route 29|PA Route 29]] to the [[New York (state)|New York state]] line. Route 309 serves as a truck bypass for [[Interstate 476]] since many placarded trucks are not allowed in the [[Lehigh Tunnel]] and as a route of choice for access to the region's operating [[coal mine]]s and industrial parks. A second highway in the borough, [[U.S. Route 209]], runs along [[Panther Creek (Little Schuylkill River tributary)|Panther Creek]] and intersects with Route 309 in the borough. Route 209 runs for approximately 212 miles from [[Millersburg, Pennsylvania|Millersburg]] in [[Dauphin County, Pennsylvania|Dauphin County]] to [[Ulster, New York|Ulster]] in [[Ulster County, New York]]. U.S. 209 also connects Tamaqua to nearby municipalities, including the Schuylkill County seat at [[Pottsville, Pennsylvania|Pottsville]] in the west and both [[Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania|Jim Thorpe]] and [[Lehighton, Pennsylvania|Lehighton]] to the east.

Other highways near Tamaqua include [[Pennsylvania Route 54]], [[Pennsylvania Route 443]], [[Pennsylvania Route 895]], and [[Pennsylvania Route 902]], most of which connect the Tamaqua area to the [[Pocono Mountains|Poconos]], the [[Lehigh Valley]], and South Central Pennsylvania. In addition, Interstates [[Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania|81]], [[Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania|80]], [[Interstate 476|476]], and [[Interstate 78|78]] are near  the town. Bus service is provided by [[Schuylkill Transportation System]], Route 45 ([[Pottsville, Pennsylvania|Pottsville]]-[[McAdoo, Pennsylvania|McAdoo]]), and [[Fullington Trailways]] (intercity).

===Railroads===
{{Further|Lehigh and New England Railroad|Reading Company|Tamaqua station}}
Until the late 1960s, Tamaqua was a hub for two major railroads, the [[Reading Company|Reading Railroad]] (RDG) and [[Lehigh and New England Railroad]] (LNE). A large rail yard existed in the southern part of town that extended through downtown with, at one point, eight tracks passing by the passenger station. An engine house, turntable, and car shop were located across the street from the passenger station in what is now the St. Luke's Medical Center parking lot. The collapse of the [[anthracite|anthracite coal]] industry in the early 1960s, the [[Penn Central Transportation Company|Penn Central]] merger, and [[Hurricane Agnes]] in 1972 all led to the railroad's demise. Today, all that remains is a single track line through town operated by the [[Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad]].
 
Tamaqua has a small rail yard, but its switching and geography makes it an important junction with tracks along both the [[Little Schuylkill River]] and others penetrating near the west-flowing Panther Creek and north into [[Hazleton, Pennsylvania|Hazleton]]. The town once hosted trackage of the [[Reading Company|Reading Railroad]] and the [[Lehigh Valley Railroad|Lehigh Valley]] and [[New England Railroad|New England]] Railroads.