Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 497 |
| Work Detail | A new access road into the Humboldt Industrial Park will be built by 2022, and the bridge that takes Route 924 over Interstate 81 will be rebuilt two years later, a state transportation official said. A new southbound on-ramp for Interstate 81 from Route 924 is also planned in the newly released 12-year plan for construction for the state Department of Transportation. Steve Fisher, transportation planning specialist at PennDOT’s District 4 office in Dunmore, said the highway projects — as well as a new bridge that will take Route 924 over a railroad bridge, and a park and ride facility along Route 309 near the Butler Township Interstate 80 exchange — are on the master plan. Fisher noted that none of the projects are new, but their ranking has advanced since the previous plan was released two years ago. PennDOT has $1.8 million earmarked for final design of the access road from the Greater Hazleton Chamber of Commerce Beltway interstate exit — also known as Route 424 — into the Humboldt Industrial Park in 2017. A three-year construction time is planned and three infusions of funds — $13.5 million in 2020, $5 million in 2021, and $1 million in 2022. The plan calls for the road to be built by 2022 at an estimated cost of $19.5 million. “The project is in the late phases of preliminary engineering,” Fisher said. “The consultant has submitted all of the required environmental assessment documents for PennDOT and FHWA (Federal Highway Administration) review. The project is on schedule to proceed into final design in the next federal fiscal year, 2017, and has an estimate let date of July 9, 2019, if everything goes as planned.” Kevin O’Donnell, president of CAN DO Inc., is hoping the road, which will stretch about a half-mile from I-81 to Commerce Drive in Humboldt Station, will be completed sooner. The 12-year plan is updated every two years, and the timing of some projects does change, according to available funding. “There’s still a chance it can be moved up,” O’Donnell said of the road, which would extend Route 424 into the park from the east. “We are working on White Birch Road to get ready for it,” O’Donnell continued. “We had to complete an environmental study there. These things take time. We have to be patient. But we are hoping it will be moved up.” While there are three entrance/exits to the park along Route 924, there is only one access from Interstate 81 — via Route 924, at exit 143. This road would mean there would be access to the industrial park off two consecutive exits of I-81. The road would provide a second entrance-exit for the many trucks that enter the park daily to serve the 60 industries there. According to PennDOT’s internet traffic monitoring system, more than 22,000 cars pass by Humboldt Station, Route 924 and Commerce Drive, daily. Nearly 66,000 cars pass exit 143 at I-81 daily. A project to reconstruct the interchange at the next exit also made the list. When I-81 was built, the southbound on-ramp was constructed as a cloverleaf which requires drivers to turn left across traffic from the eastbound lanes of Route 924. The new interchange would employ a normal, right-turn ramp. The land there is owned by CAN DO, which has offered it to the state to improve the interchange. Ramp planning is just beginning, Fisher said. There is $500,000 for preliminary engineering scheduled for 2019. “The consultant team is reviewing previous planning documents, creating GIS maps of the existing conditions and constraints, gathering traffic safety data of existing intersections and gathering parcel data to develop the traffic model,” Fisher said. The bridge that takes Route 924 over I-81 is also included in the plan. There is $402,000 planned for preliminary engineering in 2019. Construction funds are planned across two years — $2.5 million in 2023 and $1 million in 2024. The bridge will be built for an estimated $3.5 million by 2024. “It is working its way down the pipeline of projects to begin design this program,” Fisher said. “No money has been spent on any phase yet and it currently is not being worked on. They are on schedule to begin preliminary engineering in 2019.” Meanwhile, there are two other Hazleton area projects on the list. A project to replace a bridge that takes Route 924 over a railroad has $500,000 for final design in 2018, and $2 million for construction in 2020. “We are still in the very early preliminary engineering stages of the project and are currently working on an agreement with the railroad so that they can start reviewing preliminary plans,” Fisher said. “Since we are in the early stages of preliminary engineering, it is difficult to nail down a specific (contract) let date however it is looking like some time in 2019.” There is also $2.5 million earmarked for 2018 to build a park and ride facility planned for near the intersection of Route 309 and Interstate 80 in Butler Township. Two such facilities have been built in the last year: at the next exit off I-80 at White Haven and another at the Dorrance exit of I-81. “The consultant and PennDOT are collectively assessing multiple locations to determine the best location for the park and ride to meet the purpose and needs,” Fisher said. PennDOT has built some large projects in the Hazleton area in the last five years, including the $27 million Broad Street Corridor project, and the project to widen Route 924 from two lanes to five around the Humboldt Industrial Park. A project to widen Airport Beltway was scaled back to a turning lane, because of the crisis to replace many of the state’s bridges in recent years. |
| Country | United States , Northern America |
| Industry | Construction |
| Entry Date | 02 Sep 2016 |
| Source | http://standardspeaker.com/news/penndot-s-12-year-plan-includes-regional-road-projects-1.2084173 |
