PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Spring is here, and that means one thing. As the temperature increases, so does the pace of road work in southeastern Pennsylvania.
With more than 120 projects planned for this year, PennDOT says traffic cones, flashing signs and construction vehicles will be more prevalent than ever in the five-county Philadelphia area this year.
That includes the continuing work on I-95 in the city and the start of a cap to be built over the expressway at Penn’s Landing; widening Route 202 between Norristown and Whitpain Township in Montgomery County; and widening Route 1 in Bensalem and Middletown Township in Bucks County.
There’s also pavement and bridge work along the Schuylkill Expressway between City Avenue and the Vine Expressway; the widening of Route 322 in Upper Chichester, and repaving and bridge work on the Blue Route from the Schuylkill Expressway to I-95.
Keep track of area projects
PennDOT District 6 Executive Lou Belmonte says funding from the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law helped to speed up the timetable for projects that had been on the drawing board.
“What it did — it moved a lot of projects forward from the back end of the program towards the front. It allowed us to get a lot of the design restarted on stuff,” Belmonte said.
As much work as possible will be done overnight to minimize disruptions, Belmonte said: “A lot of the paving projects, I would say, on I-76 and later in the year on 476, I think, are going to be ones that are going to have that type of impact.”
This is National Work Zone Awareness Week, and Belmonte advises drivers to slow down and watch out for changing traffic patterns. He emphasizes that drivers must slow down in work zones. And, he says, mobile speed camera units will be deployed, issuing tickets to drivers who don’t get the message.
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