Route 202 lane closures scheduled next week

Lane closures are scheduled next week on U.S. 202 in East Whiteland and West Whiteland townships, Chester County, for construction related to the rehabilitation of two U.S. 202 bridges over Amtrak rail lines, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (Penn DOT) has announced. The work schedule is: • Sunday, March 26, through Thursday, March 30, from 8:00 PM to 5:00 AM, lane closures are scheduled on northbound and southbound U.S. 202 between the U.S. 30 and Boot Road interchanges; and

• Friday, March 31, and Saturday, April 1, from 8:00 PM to 10:00 AM, lane closures are scheduled on northbound and southbound

U.S. 202 between the U.S. 30 and Boot Road interchanges.

Motorists are advised to allow extra time when traveling through the construction area because slowdowns may occur. The work schedule is weather dependent.

The work is part of a $26.4 million project 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.

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.

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.