PennDOT urges patience during Route 22 project in Murrysville
The good news is that by 2006 PennDOT will have completely reconstructed Route 22 through Westmoreland County.
Guess you can figure out the bad news.
Work will begin in earnest the week of April 7 on a three-mile stretch of roadway through Murrysville infamous for its traffic congestion.
Caution and patience will serve motorists best, advised Jack McCune, a Dick Corp. supervisor hired by PennDOT to manage the $30 million project.
"Of course, one of the main reasons for the project is the congestion that occurs there now," said McCune. "It alone shows the need for this work."
"We anticipate there will be some confusion in the congestion," McCune added, "but we expect that after about two weeks, motorists will have psychologically adjusted to it or found alternate routes."
Eastbound lanes will be closed sometime the week of April 7, about a week behind a schedule disrupted by a snowy and cold winter. No detours are planned so preliminary work included a temporary eastbound lane.
PennDOT has been reconstructing Route 22 on a regular basis for the past 10 years and will continue to do so for the next three years.
In 1992, a needs analysis study indicated that Route 22 through Westmoreland County had safety and congestion problems and was particularly dangerous because it varied from two to four lanes along the entire stretch from the Allegheny County line to the Indiana County line.
Nearly 2.8 miles will be widened from the intersection of Route 22 and Triangle Lane to the Allegheny County line. In all, six lanes will be constructed from the county line east to Vincent Hall Road/Trafford Road.
From Vincent Hall Road/Trafford Road to near School Road, the highway will be widened to four lanes with a median divider. From School Road to just east of the Cozy Inn cut-off, the highway will be widened to four lanes with a median divider.
Planners expect motorists to find their way around some of the construction through local roads. Temporary traffic lights have been installed at various intersections to facilitate flow.
Motorists will still be able to access businesses in the construction area.
The eastbound work is expected to be finished by Dec. 12; in 2004, similar work will be performed westbound. The project, including the finishing touches, is expected to be completed by April 2005.
A PennDOT spokesman in District 12 engineering offices in Uniontown said survey records show it is the first major project on this stretch since it was repaved in 1984.
In the summer of 2004, construction will begin at a point just east of the Cozy Inn cut-off to widen the highway and install a median divider to a point near the Route 22/66 interchange near Delmont.
Another 4.3 miles of Route 22 will be widened beginning this summer from the intersection with Route 981 to the intersection with Route 982. Four lanes will be separated by a median divider.
In the summer of 2004, similar work will begin on a two-mile stretch from the intersection with Route 982 to the intersection with Township Road 966 in Derry Township.
Finally, a 20-month project expected to be completed by December 2006 will widen the lanes and install a median divider on a 2.3-mile stretch from Township Road 966 to the Westmoreland-Indiana county line at the Conemaugh River Bridge near the Route 217 interchange.
Meanwhile, in neighboring Indiana County, work on a $24 million project to widen Route 22 to four lanes continues on a stretch from Gas Center to the Cambria County line.
One other major project is expected to wrap up by September, while another is scheduled to begin in March 2005.
The reconfigured interchange of routes 22 and 119 will bring new ramps and a bridge to that major intersection. Work is expected to be completed by summer's end.
The realignment and widening of Route 22 in Indiana County to four lanes will resume in 2005 on an eight-mile section beginning just east of the Route 22/119 interchange.
The $36 million project will be completed in two phases, each about four miles long. The first, which requires PennDOT to relocate two homes and take portions of land from 30 property owners, is scheduled to begin in 2005.
That first four-mile stretch will end at the Mt. Taber Church. The second four-mile phase of construction picks up there and continues east to the Armagh Bypass. It is tentatively scheduled to begin in 2007 and finish in 2009.
