Beaver-Fraser Intersection Overhaul to Begin in June

Construction to realign the West Beaver Avenue-South Fraser Street intersection in downtown State College, anticipated for several years, is set to begin in late June, the borough has announced.

The nearly $1 million project is to take no more than 170 days, and any work will be temporarily suspended during the high-traffic Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, according to government-set guidelines. Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said the borough is close to finalizing the construction agreement with an outside contractor.

He said the borough will encourage the contractor to complete the work before Penn State students return in August for the fall semester. Any specific traffic-flow changes that may arise during the construction period have yet to be finalized and announced, but the overall impact on main downtown thoroughfares is expected to be limited.

The project will eliminate what Fountaine called the ‘dog-leg’ effect at the intersection, which requires northbound traffic on Fraser Street to make an awkward, zig-zag-type move to remain on that street.

Coordinating traffic at the current intersection requires an unusual, multi-cycle traffic-signal approach — one that somewhat stifles traffic flow through the downtown, borough leaders have said. Traffic-impact studies done in connection with the Beaver Avenue parking garage, opened in 2005, recommended the realignment.

Fountaine said the work will make the intersection symmetrical, allowing traffic-signal timing to be modified and better-coordinated through the downtown.

‘You won’t have these big gaps (in traffic) where you have no cars in sight and red lights,’ he said.

Right now, the zig-zag effect forces northbound traffic at the intersection to jog a fraction of a block east to continue onto the 100 block of South Fraser. The work will move the 100 block of South Fraser slightly west; that way, northbound traffic will have a straight shot across Beaver Avenue.

A gentle curve also will be introduced to the rebuilt 100 block of South Fraser, connecting the new portion of the roadway with the older portion that leads up to the West College Avenue intersection.

That intersection — at West College — will not be rebuilt as part of the project. Funds for the effort are coming from a combination of federal and borough sources, with federal sources paying just more than half of the overall price.

The planned Fraser Centre complex, to take shape at the northwest corner of Fraser and Beaver, has been designed with the intersection realignment in mind. Fraser Centre leaders have said they hope to begin that project’s construction this year, as well.

Earlier coverage

• Fraser Centre Still Expects State Support, Developer Tells State College Council (March 20, 2011)