A lane closure will be in place on Interstate 80 in Centre County for overnight work starting Sunday as part of the project to construct a high-speed interchange with Interstate 99, according to PennDOT.
The right lane of I-80 eastbound will be closed for shoulder reconstruction work beginning at 6 p.m. Sunday and continuing until 6 a.m. Monday. That schedule will then repeat for the remainder of the work week.
Daylight-hour traffic impacts on I-80 will be minimal and the work will not affect I-99, according to PennDOT.
“PennDOT urges drivers to exercise caution and watch for slow moving and stopped vehicles through the entire work zone, obey the posted speed limits and always buckle up,” the department wrote in a news release.
Trumbull Corporation of Pittsburgh is the contractor on the $259 million interchange project, which will create a direct connection between I-80 and I-99 via high-speed ramps constructed in Boggs, Spring and Marion townships in the area of the current Bellefonte I-80 exit. It will eliminate the need to travel along Route 26 to access either highway, remove stop-controlled intersections and realign service to local traffic.
Overall construction will include building the interchange, along with ten bridges, four retaining walls, five box culverts, seven sign structures and three changeable message boards, according to PennDOT. It will also include new and reconstructed roadways and ramps, drainage improvements, installing Intelligent Transportation Devices, guide rail and highway lighting, pavement marking, stream improvements and miscellaneous other construction.
The project is scheduled for completion in 2030. Funding includes $170 million provided from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
The interchange is the second and largest phase of a three-phase project. Work also recently began on the third phase, which will reconstruct and widen Route 26/Jacksonville Road from the I-80 Bellefonte exit to Shay Lane in Marion Township.
After Pennsylvania received a $35 million federal grant for the interchange project in 2018, work began in 2020 on the $52 million first phase to create a new local access interchange about 2 miles east of the I-80 Bellefonte exit. The new exit 163, completed in 2022, provides access for local traffic to Jacksonville Road, which will no longer be available from the current Bellefonte exit once the high-speed interchange is complete.
