Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Work set to begin Monday to widen Route 322 to four lanes
After nearly a half-century of planning, the work to widen Route 322 to four lanes will begin on Monday. But the project, which will feature grassy medians and left and right turning lanes at certain intersections, won’t be completed for at least six years.
The work will be done in two phases. The first involves widening Route 322 to four lanes from Route 1 to Featherbed Lane at Clayton Park. That work should be finished by 2020 at an estimated cost of $90 million.
The second involves widening Route 322 to four lanes from Featherbed Lane to just east of the Route 452 (Market Street) Interchange. That work is expected to be finished by 2023 at a cost of $156 million.
J.D. Eckman, PennDOT’S contractor, will begin clearing along the south side of Route 322 Monday, March 20, weather permit-
ting, in preparation for the widening project. The clearing will begin at Route 1 and end at Garnet Mine Road.
Lane closures will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Motorists should allow for extra time, and there could be extensive delays.
PennDOT is widening, rebuilding, and in places, realigning U.S. 322, and improving more than 20 intersections and interchanges along the 3.6-mile corridor that carries in excess of 20,000 vehicles per day.
The new Route 322 design will resemble a boulevard with two travel lanes in each direction separated by a 16-foot-wide median. The median will have a 10-feet-wide grass plot, curbing and three-footwide paved shoulders between the curb and the inside travel lanes in each direction. The shoulders on the outside of U.S. 322 will be eight-feet wide.
The road has been called “Killer Conchester” by some due to the number of fatalities that have occurred on it. Between 1970 and 1997, 61 people died in crashes along the Conchester. Between 2008 and 2012, there were 430 reported crashes on the Conchester — six were fatal, five had major injuries and 20 had moderate injuries.
Eighty percent of the project is funded through the National Highway Performance Program and 20 percent of it comes from the state’s allocation of Act 89 monies. Act 89 was the $2.3 billion transportation bill passed in Harrisburg two years ago and that resulted in an estimated 28cent regular gas and a 39cent diesel fuel increases to fund projects like this.
State Rep. Steve Barrar, R-160, who for years has been lobbying for the road to be widened, said the major roadblock for the project was acquiring the needed rights-of-way from properties in the area.
PennDOT is issuing current updates on the projects through www.us322conchester.com. The site will soon include detailed graphics of coming intersection improvements and regular progress reports and travel advisories.