PENNDOT STARTS CONSTRUCTION TO REHABILITATE U.S. 202 BRIDGES OVER AMTRAK IN CHESTER COUNTY
PennDOT Starts Construction to Rehabilitate U.S. 202 Bridges over Amtrak in Chester County Two Lanes Will Be Maintained in Each Direction on U.S. 202 During Construction King of Prussia, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) announced today that preliminary construction begins this week on a $26.4 million contract to complete the final phase of the U.S. 202 Section 300 improvement project, which includes the rehabilitation of two U.S. 202 bridges over Amtrak rail lines in East Whiteland and West Whiteland townships, Chester County. Crews will repair the six-span twin structures by upgrading the support piers; replacing the bridge decks and walls; constructing a retaining wall to stabilize the embankment, rehabilitating existing concrete pavement north of the bridges; and installing new Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) equipment. In order to maintain two lanes of traffic in each direction on U.S. 202 at all times, construction will be completed in five stages to utilize an Express Lane traffic shift. A temporary traffic pattern will be implemented to carry one lane on the bridge under construction and a second lane on the adjacent bridge, where concrete barriers will separate the lane from the two travel lanes heading in the opposite direction.
This week, PennDOT’s contractor will begin shoulder work on U.S. 202 to establish a work zone from just south of Route 401 to just north of Boot Road. Other preliminary construction activities over the next two weeks include equipment mobilization and survey operations.
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. 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 if from the two lanes of southbound traffic. 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. 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. A final construction stage will remove the crossovers and restore the median to complete the project in fall 2019. In addition to rehabilitating the two U.S. 202 bridges, the improvement project includes restoring U.S. 202 pavement near the U.S. 30 Interchange; rehabilitating the bridge carrying Morstein Road over U.S. 202 in East Goshen Township, Chester County; and installing new highway signs and Dynamic Message System (DMS) structures on U.S. 202 and U.S. 30 in Tredyffrin, East Whiteland and West Whiteland townships, Chester County, and U.S. 202 in Upper Merion Township, Montgomery County. Allan A Myers, Inc. of Worcester, Montgomery County, is the general contractor on the $$26,370,555 project which is financed with 100 percent federal funds. For more information, visit www.us202-300.com. Motorists can check conditions on more than 40,000 roadway miles by visiting www.511PA.com. 511PA, which is free and available 24 hours a day, provides traffic delay warnings, weather forecasts, traffic speed information and access to more than 770 traffic cameras. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices, by calling 5-1-1, or by following regional twitter alerts accessible on the 511PA website. For more PennDOT information, visit www.penndot.gov. Follow Local PennDOT Information on Twitter at www.twitter.com/511PAPhilly, and follow the department on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pennsylvaniadepartmentoftransportation and Instagram at www.instagram.com/pennsylvaniadot. MEDIA CONTACT: Brad Rudolph, 610-205-6800