17 Delco Roads Among PennDOT's Nearly 200-Mile 2016 Resurfacing Initiative

Seventeen Bucks County highways were part of PennDOT's nearly 200-mile road resurfacing initiative in 2016, the agency announced Thursday.

PennDOT said the initiative began to repair deteriorated pavements and provide drivers with smoother roads.

Road and highways in Bucks, Delaware, Montgomery, Chester, and Philadelphia counties were lumped into the project, which totaled 194 miles, PennDOT said.

“PennDOT crews and contractors deserve a tremendous amount of credit for the amount of highway miles they sealed and repaired over the last year to provide drivers with more reliable and safer riding surfaces,” PennDOT District Executive Kenneth M. McClain said.

The projects were primarily done under 25 state paving contracts totaling $55 million, with 12 of the resurfacing contracts being financed with state funds from Act 89, PennDOT said.

PennDOT maintenance crews also performed crack sealing on 1,150 miles of state highways in the Philadelphia region in 2016 to improve efficiency and reduce traffic impacts for motorists.

“Crack sealing is one of our top maintenance strategies to prevent premature deterioration of the roadway and extend the life of asphalt surfaces by restricting water penetration into underlying base and sub-base layers,” McClain said.

In addition, PennDOT crews and private contractors placed 35,114 tons of asphalt patching material on state highways in the region to repair pavements that absorbed structural damage last winter.

In addition to resurfacing projects, PennDOT completed a $5 million project to widen Route 252 (Providence Road) between Palmers Mill Road and Kirk Lane in Upper Providence Township.

PennDOT's resurfacing took care of these 17 roads and highways in Delaware County:

• U.S. 13 in Yeadon Borough and Upper Darby Township;
• Route 320 (Chester Road) in Swarthmore Borough;
• Route 452 (Pennell Road) in Aston Township;
• MacDade Boulevard in Collingdale and Glenolden boroughs;
• Upland Avenue/22nd Street in Upland Borough and City of Chester;
• Baltimore Pike in Lansdowne Borough and Upper Darby Township;
• Godfrey Road in Radnor Township;
• Radnor Chester Road in Radnor Township;
• Gradyville Road in Newtown and Edgmont townships;
• Church Road in Radnor and Newtown townships;
• Delchester Road in Edgmont Towsnhip;
• Mill Road in Concord and Thornbury townships;
• Kirk Lane in Upper Providence Township;
• Rose Tree Road in Upper Providence Township;
• Ridley Avenue in Prospect Park and Ridley Park boroughs;
• MacDade Boulevard in Ridley Township; and
• Stoney Bank Road in Chester Heights Borough and Thornbury Township.

PennDOT is in the process of developing its 2017 resurfacing program in the are, which will begin in April when weather permits paving.

Image via U.S. Department of Labor