Local Stretch of 202 Becomes 6 Lanes This Weekend

The following was provided to Patch by PennDOT:

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation today announced that it will open nearly 4 miles of U.S. Route 202 to 6 lanes this weekend (Sept. 27-28) between the Route 252 (Swedesford Road) and Route 401 interchanges in Tredyffrin and East Whiteland townships, Chester County.

Route 202’s third northbound travel lane is scheduled to open by 10 a.m. Saturday (Sept. 27) and the third southbound travel lane is expected to open by 10 a.m. Sunday (Sept. 28).

“Opening this part of Route 202 to 6 lanes marks a significant milestone in our effort to enhance travel and safety on this critical highway in the Great Valley area of Chester County,” PennDOT District Executive Lester C. Toaso said. “We urge motorists to drive safety on the new highway and exercise care because construction activity continues to widen the adjacent section of Route 202 between the Route 401 and U.S. Route 30 interchanges.”

PennDOT rebuilt and widened Route 202 between Route 252 (Swedesford Road) and Route 401 under a $105.4 million project that began in April 2011 and is scheduled to finish in late October.

In addition, PennDOT is currently rebuilding and expanding 2.5 miles of Route 202 to 6 lanes between Route 401 and Route 30. Two travel lanes are open in each direction in the construction zone. This $63.5 million project is scheduled to finish in 2016.

Following the completion of roadwork this weekend, Route 202 will carry 3 travel lanes in each direction from just south of the Route 252 (Swedesford Road) Interchange to just north of the Route 401 Interchange. A nearly 2-mile long, 2-lane collector-distributor road also is open along northbound Route 202 to facilitate travel at the Route 29 Interchange.

To open the additional travel lanes, crews will work Friday and Saturday nights (Sept. 26-27) on Route 202 to remove construction barriers, eradicate temporary traffic lines and paint new lines.

Weather permitting, lane closures will be in place on Route 202 from 8 p.m. Friday (Sept. 26) to 10 a.m. Saturday (Sept. 27); and from 8 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 27) to 10 a.m. Sunday (Sept. 28).
All work on this northern section of the Route 202 construction corridor will finish in late October as crews work the next few weeks to seal joints, install reflective pavement markers and rumble strips, smooth out areas of the concrete pavement, and complete landscaping and other off-road operations.

Next week on Route 202, lane closures will be in place between Route 252 (Swedesford Road) and Route 401 on Monday through Thursday (Sept. 29-Oct. 2) from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. to seal pavement joints, smooth out areas of concrete pavement and perform other miscellaneous work.

Richard E. Pierson Construction Company, Inc. of Woodstown, N.J. is the general contractor on the $105,415,093 project, which is financed with 80 percent federal and 20 percent state funds.

Prior to reconstructing and widening Route 202, PennDOT invested $40 million to replace 6 bridges over the highway with longer structures to provide the space to add an additional travel lane in each direction. PennDOT also improved 2 nearby intersections and invested $14.7 million to install Intelligent Transportation System equipment along Route 202 in Chester and Delaware counties and on Route 100 and Route 30 in Chester County.