State to spend $3M on Beaver County roads to accommodate Shell cracker plant

Pennsylvania will spend $3 million on roads in Beaver County’s Monaca area to help accommodate increased traffic because of the Shell cracker plant, Gov. Tom Wolf’s office announced Tuesday.

Deteriorating roads in the area aren’t designed for heavy industrial traffic and often become bottlenecked, according to a news release. The state money will improve about 6,200 feet of Route 18 and pay for a roundabout at its intersection with Route 51, according to the release.

“This crucial infrastructure project won’t just make life easier and safer for Monaca residents and businesses, it will enable the true economic growth potential of the Shell cracker plant and other projects in the region,” Wolf said in the release.

Construction is under way on the plant, which will break large molecules in oil and natural gas into smaller molecules that can be used in chemical and plastics manufacturing. It is expected to open in 2020 or 2021 and to create more than 600 jobs.

About 16,000 to 18,000 vehicles per day travel Route 18 in the area, and 8,000 to 11,000 travel Route 51, according to PennDOT. A traffic impact study showed traffic would increase by about 50 to 100 vehicles per day on different parts of Route 51 and on Pennsylvania Avenue, according to the department. Ninety percent of the increased traffic would use Interstate 376, according to the department.

Money for the program comes from the Transportation Infrastructure Investment Funds program, which is administered by the Department of Community and Economic Development and PennDOT, according to the release.

Wes Venteicher is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Wes at 412-380-5676, wventeicher@tribweb.com or via Twitter @wesventeicher.