KING OF PRUSSIA, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) will start construction Tuesday (May 26) to rehabilitate and improve a deteriorated 4.5-mile section of Route 422 in Montgomery County under a $12.2 million project that is financed by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
“This multi-million dollar improvement of Route 422 would not be starting this year if it were not for the federal economic stimulus funds,” PennDOT District Executive Lester C. Toaso said. “We are ready to upgrade this rough stretch of pavement and provide motorists with a smooth, structurally-sound roadway for many years to come.”
Construction crews will rehabilitate Route 422 from a half-mile east of the Route 29 (Collegeville) Interchange to 1,500 feet west of the Royersford Interchange in Upper Providence and Limerick townships, respectively. The project is scheduled to finish in July 2010.
Starting next week, crews will remove areas of deteriorated concrete pavement and pour new concrete patches on eastbound Route 422. They also will resurface the concrete pavement with asphalt; repair 12 bridges; repair ramps at the Route 29 and Royersford interchanges; install
safety rumble strips on roadway shoulders; clean existing pipe culverts; and install new guide rail, reflective pavement markers, and Intelligent Transportation System conduit.
Route 422 drivers will face lane closures weekdays, weeknights and some weekends over the next year. The contractor will stage the work so all lanes will be open on eastbound Route 422 during the peak morning commuting hours and all westbound lanes will be open during the peak late afternoon travel hours. Weekend ramps closures will occur at the Route 29 and Royersford interchanges for repairs and resurfacing.
Starting Tuesday (May 26) and lasting about three months, eastbound Route 422 will be reduced from two lanes to one on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 a.m. the next morning for the removal and replacement of deteriorated concrete pavement. The contractor plans to start at the Royersford Interchange and proceed east.
When the concrete replacement work shifts to Route 422’s westbound lanes in August or September, westbound motorists will encounter a signal-lane pattern weekdays from 7 p.m. to 2 p.m. the next afternoon.
Route 422 carries 62,000 vehicles a day between the Collegeville and Royersford exits. This portion of the highway, which was built in the early 1970s, has four 12-foot wide travel lanes plus a 10-foot wide outside shoulder and an eight-foot wide inside shoulder.
Road-Con, Inc. of West Chester, Pa. is the general contractor on the $12,217,790 project. Eight sub-contractors are part of the project team and will perform various operations, including paving, traffic control, line painting, concrete saw cutting, pipe cleaning, guide rail and fence installation; rumble strip installations; and seeding and erosion control.
In the five-county Philadelphia region, PennDOT is investing $257.7 million of federal economic recovery money on 21 state and local transportation projects that will improve roads and bridges, install Intelligent Transportation System equipment, upgrade traffic signals, build a multi-use trail, and bring over 3,500 handicap curb ramps up to current design standards.
PennDOT has opened construction bids for six projects in southeastern Pennsylvania that are financed with ARRA federal funds. Construction bid openings for the remaining 15 projects in the region will occur this month and in June, July and August.
To learn more about how the federal economic stimulus will benefit Pennsylvania, visit www.recovery.pa.gov.
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