$26.2 Million Roadwork Project Begins On U.S. 202

A $26.2 million project to complete improvements on U.S. 202 has begun.

The Section 300 improvement project will include rehabilitation of two bridges that cross Amtrak rail lines in East and West Whiteland townships, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) said.

Two lanes of traffic will be maintained in each direction at all times, officials said. To do this, construction will need to be completed in five stages. Traffic patterns will be routinely altered.

Closures will be in effect this week to establish a work zone just norht of Boot Road.

Crews will upgrade support piers, replace bridge decks and walls, build a retaining wall, rehabilitate pavement, and install new Intelligent Transportation System equipment, officials said.

Beginning Monday, March 20, crews will start rebuilding the northbound and southbound U.S. 202 shoulders and build crossover lanes in the median at the northern and southern ends of the work zone, PennDOT said.

Preparations will then be made to shift one lane over of northbound traffic to the southbound side of U.S. 202, where concrete barriers will separate from the two lanes of southbound traffic, according to officials. The second northbound lane will remain on the northbound bridge behind construction barrier as the opposite side is rehabilitated under Stage 1 of the bridge work, PennDOT said.

Once half the northbound bridge is reconstructed, the northbound lane will be shifted onto the newly reconstructed half, and the opposite side of the bridge will be rehabilitated under Stage 2. When the rehabilitation of the northbound bridge is completed in mid-2018, three lanes of traffic — two northbound lanes and a southbound express lane — will be shifted to the rebuilt northbound bridge. The southbound bridge will then be reconstructed one half-at-a-time under Stages 3-4, officials said.

Final construction is expected to be completed in fall of 2019.

Patch file photo