If You Build It...

The first total rebuild of portions of the original Pennsylvania Turnpike highlights an active summer 1999 construction season which will also include major bridge construction, interchange upgrades, and service plaza improvements.

When it opened for business in 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike linked southcentral and western Pennsylvania running between Carlisle and Irwin. Numerous improvements have been made to the original section of the Turnpike over the years, but for the first time a complete rebuild of America’s first superhighway is now underway.

The 160-miles of original Turnpike will be rebuilt in sections. Construction is underway on the first section to be rebuilt, between mileposts 94 and 99 just east of the Donegal Interchange in Westmoreland County. That project is expected to be completed next year. Construction between mileposts 187-197 near the Willow Hill Interchange will also begin this summer. That project is scheduled for completion in 2001.

The total rebuild project involves the complete removal of the existing roadway which will then be reconstructed from the ground up including grading and drainage, new pavement, new guide rail and medial barrier.

A major improvement to the reconstructed Turnpike will be a wider median area. The existing highway utilizes a ten-foot wide median. The reconstructed Turnpike will feature an 18-foot median. A two-foot wide concrete barrier will occupy the middle of the median area with eight-foot wide shoulders between the barrier and the left line lane on each side of the barrier.

Construction will continue for a second season on both the Delaware River Bridge and on the Schuylkill River Bridge/Diamond Run Viaduct. A third of the Delaware River Bridge was redecked last year. Another third of the structure will be redecked during the 1999 construct season. Construction on the Schuylkill River

Bridge/Diamond Run Viaduct will be ongoing for the balance of this year. Both projects will result in periodic single lane traffic patterns. Motorists are advised to tune into the Turnpike’s Highway Advisory Radio and watch variable message signs for traffic information.

Significant progress was made during 1998 on rebuilding the New Stanton Viaduct in western Pennsylvania. That project has resumed and will be ongoing throughout the summer months. The Turnpike will also be replacing an overhead bridge at milepost 79, also near New Stanton. Both projects will result in periodic traffic delays.

Various other smaller bridge projects will also be completed during the summer of 1999. Included among those projects are roadway bridge upgrades in Lancaster County, rehabilitation of a roadway bridge at milepost A99.3 on the Northeastern Extension in Lackawanna County, and the replacement of a roadway bridge at milepost 172 in Bedford County that will also involve a seven-mile milling and resurfacing project.

Various sections of the Turnpike will be milled and repaved during the 1999 construction season. A six-lane section between milepost 334 and milepost 351 in the Philadelphia area will be milled and resurfaced. Lane restrictions and traffic delays are expected to occur during that project.

Reconstruction of the Breezewood Interchange will continue during the 1999 construction season as will the upgrade of the Lehigh Valley Interchange. Major rehabilitation work will also be performed at the Pittsburgh Interchange. An additional exit lane will be added to the Reading Interchange this year.

The Turnpike also includes a number of enhancement projects at various service plazas, including reconstruction of the entrance ramp and modification of parking areas at the North Somerset Service Plaza.