With a substantial number of visitors expected in the area for this weekend’s Blue-White game at Penn State, work on PennDOT’s North Atherton Street project will pause from Friday through Sunday, with no major traffic restrictions in place during that time.
But as work resumes on the project, drivers can expect to see a few periods this spring and summer with work that may cause significant travel delays.
PennDOT officials spoke to reporters Wednesday in State College for another look at what’s ahead on Atherton Street and elsewhere in Centre County, this year and beyond.
Atherton Street
Work on the current phase of the North Atherton Street project is about 60 percent complete and on track to be finished in the fall, said Marc Maney, PennDOT’s chief inspector in charge of the project.
Work this year is primarily taking place between the Big Hollow Run crossing (in the area of Discovery Space and TGI Friday’s) and Park Avenue.
From April 22 to May 1contractor Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. will begin installing a new box culvert at the Big Hollow Run crossing. Work will take place 24 hours a day, every day, and during that time traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction
According to PennDOT, the existing box culvert is undersized and has deteriorated pipes.
‘It isn’t a large box culvert,’ Maney said. ‘But it will definitely hold more volume than what’s there now and will keep water moving down through.’
From May 6 to May 23, crews will be doing a full-depth reconstruction of the road from Cherry Lane to Hillcrest Avenue. Work will again take place 24/7 and traffic again will be one lane in and one lane out. That work will take the pavement down to the existing sub-grade and rebuilt ‘in order to change the profile of the roadway to meet new design standards,’ Maney said.
Most of the work in the work zone from Aaron Drive to Blue Course Drive was completed last year and Maney said he expects that area to be paved at the end of May.
‘Most likely we’ll do one side at a time and while we’re paving those areas we’ll be looking at having a few blocks where we’ll have traffic reduced to one lane in each direction,’ he said.
New drainage is being installed from Big Hollow Run to Hillcrest Avenue through June and will then be installed from Hill Crest to Park Avenue from June through August.
Final paving for the remainder of the work zone is expected to take place in October. But once the project is finished, PennDOT is looking to get a head start on the next phase. Starting some time in 2020, work take place from Park Avenue to Westerly Parkway. Work between Park Avenue and Curtin Road may be added to the end of this year’s project, to avoid having to put up a temporary traffic signal at Park Avenue both this year and again next year.
‘We need to put one up for this project as well, so what we’re doing is extending the work down to Curtin Road so with the next project we won’t need to have that temporary signal again there,’ Maney said. ‘With that temporary signal, it causes increased congestion. Without having it up there as long it will help with pedestrian access as well.’
Drivers voiced complaints about the condition of some of the road over the winter, and Maney said that was largely a result of drainage needing to be installed at what will be the final elevation when paved.
‘The outside lanes were a little rough,’ Maney said. ‘Throughout the winter we did have PennDOT maintenance come out and do some pothole patching due to the road becoming more rough. Just last week when the blacktop plants opened up we were able to have a contractor come out and do a little better blacktop patching for us.’
Maney also said that the Atherton Street project is an unusual one for PennDOT District 2’s nine-county area. While the road-related improvements — new drainage improvements, curbing, sidewalks, ADA ramps, traffic signal upgrades, new concrete median, and paving —are typical, PennDOT is also coordinating with more than a dozen utility companies that are also replacing and relocating gas, water, sewer and communications lines.
‘These are all utilities that need to be updated from time to time so that the quality of life for residents in the area aren’t impacted,’ Maney said.
After this year’s work is completed, PennDOT does not have a start date, but Maney said he expect it will most likely begin mid-year and continue through the following construction season.
Other Projects
Steven Fantechi, PennDOT District 2 assistant executive for construction, said 2019 looks to be a ‘pretty normal construction season,’ in Centre County and the rest of the district. District 2 typically lets about 60 projects a year and has 20 to 25 carryover projects.
Like Atherton Street, the Route 322 Potters Mills Gap project is one of those carryovers. The multi-year project will ultimately alleviate congestion and allow traffic to move more safely and efficiently from the Centre-Mifflin County line to Potters Mills. It includes a reconstructed and widened roadway and a new Route 322/Route 144 intersection that will be a part of the local access road. Work is expected to be completed in the fall of 2020.
This weekend no activity is planned in the roadway that would result in stoppages, though some excavation work may be taking place off the road, Fantechi said. Through the summer, traffic will remain on the current two-lane route, and there will be a few times of significant delays as a result of utility relocations, Fantechi said. Dates for that work will be announced at a later time.
Also on deck this construction season:
– I-99 improvement work from mile 56 at the Blair/Centre county line to mile marker 69 near State College is ongoing and expected to be completed by the end of June. Work also began this week to install cable median barriers on Interstate 99 from Bellefonte to Port Matilda. The barriers also will be installed on Route 322 between the Park Avenue exit and Boalsburg
– Restoration work began this week on a North Atherton Street bridge spanning I-99 in Patton Township.
– Preservation work for two bridges — the Valley Vista offramp of Interstate 99 in Patton Township and the Elmwood Street bridge spanning Spring Creek in Lemont — is scheduled to bid in May. The Elmwood Street bridge project will result in a closure and detour.
– Safety improvements are planned, with completion by the fall, for Route 26 and the I-80 interchange in Spring, Marion and Boggs townships. These are not part of the new I-99 high-speed interchange project, but are expected to include an extended ramp at I-80 exit 161 and removal of an embankment to improve driver visuals as they turn left at the off-ramp/Route 26 intersection.
The first phase of the I-80/I-99 high-speed interchange project — a local access road connecting to Route 26/Jacksonville Road — will be bid next April and finished in December 2021. Work on the high-speed interchange between I-80 and I-99 is expected to begin in 2022 and be completed in 2025.
– Bridge replacements on Route 144 in Boggs Township and Snow Shoe Township are expected to be completed in June 2020.
– Preservation work for the bridge spannine the SEDA-COG Railroad on Route 26 (Walnut Street) in Howard began in March and is expected to be completed in October.
– Replacement of a local bridge over Lower Georges Valley Road in Gregg Township was bid in late March.
Work Zone Safety Week
This week is Work Zone Safety Awareness Week, and Marlaine Fannin PennDOT District 2 press officer, reminded drivers to be mindful and use caution this and every week when driving through work zones.
‘We certainly want drivers to be aware of construction zones, follow the posted speed limits, be alert for flaggers in the roadway, use caution as they come through the work zones,’ she said. ‘All of the normal precautions they should take, we want them to continue to do those things in order to keep themselves safe and obviously to keep our workers safe.’
Fannin said one of the best ways drivers can be prepared in by checking 511 PA to be aware of current road conditions, work zones and detours they may encounter on their routes.
