Bear Creek Township, Pennsylvania

Bear Creek Township, Pennsylvania
Township
Bear Creek Falls
Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Highlighting Bear Creek Township
Map of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
Country	United States
State	Pennsylvania
County	Luzerne
Area
• Total	67.8 sq mi (176 km2)
• Land	66.2 sq mi (171 km2)
• Water	1.6 sq mi (4 km2)
Population (2010)
• Total	2,774
• Density	41/sq mi (16/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
Website	Bear Creek Township

Bear Creek Township is a township in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,774 at the 2010 census.

The township was the site of a plane crash on May 21, 2000, when an airplane, in its attempt to land at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in nearby Avoca, crashed in what was described by the BBC as a "wooded area" of the township near the intersection of Bear Creek Boulevard (PA-Route 115) and the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, killing the pilot as well as all 19 passengers. NTSB investigation ruled the accident was probably due to low fuel. The incident spurred an FBI investigation and made news across the globe. Passenger safety in the aviation field became a major issue of the 2000 U.S. presidential election.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 67.8 square miles (176 km²), of which 66.2 square miles (171 km²) is land and 1.6 square miles (4.1 km²), or 2.42%, is water. It is drained by tributaries flowing north to the Susquehanna River and by the southward-flowing Lehigh River, which separates it from Carbon County. Interstate 476 has its Wilkes-Barre Interchange in Forest Park with Route 115, which connects the Wyoming Valley and Monroe County. Other important roads are Laurel Run Road, Pittston Boulevard, Suscon Road, and White Haven Road. Its villages include Forest Park, Llewellyn Corners (also in Plains Township) and Pleasant View Summit.