Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Work set to widen Route 322 begins today
After nearly a half-century of planning, the work to widen Route 322 to four lanes will begin today. 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 span, which connects I-95 in Chester with Route 1 in Concord, has long been dubbed “The Killer Conchester” because of the heavy traffic that uses the route and the number of fatal accidents that have occurred on it.
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.
The Conchester Highway, or the 3.6 mile stretch of Route 322 that goes from U.S. Route 1 to I-95, has been the subject of speculation regarding widening the highway from two lanes to four for years.
It has been called the “Killer Conchester” 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.
J.D. Eckman, PennDOT’S contractor, will begin clearing along the south side of Route 322 Monday, March 20, weather permitting, 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-foot-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.
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.
The first chunk of the project from U.S. Route 1 to Clayton Park is expected to cost $92 million.
Two years later, the second part from Clayton Park to right before the Route 452 interchange is anticipated to start. This is expected to cost $156 million.
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 28-cent regular gas and a 39cent diesel fuel increases to fund road construction and repairs.
When the project was first announced last August, PennDOT project manager Peter Berthold admitted the Conchester project has had its share of setbacks.
“There have been a lot of delays on the project,” he said.
Reports of construction starting on the project were forecasted in 2001, 2006 and 2007 but date even prior to that.
Previous to his career in Harrisburg, Barrar recalled when he purchased his business on Route 322 in 1984.
“The owner said they were going to start that Conchester project any day now,” he said.
“I think (PennDOT’s) timeline looks realistic,” Barrar said in August. “A lot of hurdles that were there have subsided. There’s a few issues that need to be worked out (but) I think they’re moving along at the right pace to get this done, to get this started.”
Some of those issues that impeded the project in the past revolved mostly around acquiring the needed rights-of-way from properties in the project area, Barrar explained.
For all the time it has taken, he said once the project starts, those who have been looking forward to it may rethink their desire as the 20,000 vehicles that use the Conchester daily are going to have to deal with a minimum of two years of traffic delays.
But, once it’s done, what has been on the sketchboard for decades will finally be realized. “It was a priority back then in the ‘80s and the ‘90s and it’s still a priority to get it done,” Barrar said. “It’s been a point of frustration for many years. It’s still a top priority for the county and for my legislative district.”
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.