At a meeting hosted by the Downtown State College Improvement District last week, State College Public Works, Borough Water Authority and PennDOT officials offered a look ahead to some of the road, utility and other projects that may have an impact on residents in the near future.
Like last year, PennDOT’s Atherton Street project looms large, although traffic impacts are not expected to be as significant overall.
Still the project, which continues into the fall and picks up again in 2020, will inform some of the borough’s own road work this year.
Deborah Hoag, State College Public Works director, said the borough has been looking at what roads motorists are most likely to use in an attempt to avoid Atherton Street and which of those may need resurfacing. At the top of the list is Waupelani Drive from O’Bryan Lane to Whitehall Road.
‘At this point our first priority when we look at that is Waupelani Drive,’ Hoag said. ‘It is not doing well right now and we see that as one way people may try to get around some of the construction that’s going on.’
Also on the list are Blue Course Drive, from Whitehall Road to the State College/Ferguson Township line, and Westerly Parkway, the latter of which may be done in smaller sections. Staff also would evaluate underground sewer lines to first determine any repairs that need to be made, as well as conditions of curbs and ramps that may need repairs or replacement.
‘We know this is way more than we can really do in its entirety, so we’re trying to look at what pieces we can do,’ Hoag said. ‘Before we go in and do paving we want to make sure things are in a condition we’re not going to be tearing it up again.’
For North Atherton Street, last year was spent largely on new sewer and water lines, drainage, curbing and sidewalks between Aaron Drive and Big Hollow Run (which runs under the road in the area of Discovery Space and TGI Friday’s). Marc Maney, PennDOT’s chief inspector in charge of the project, said the plan is, weather-permitting, to pave that section in April. That area of the project will then mostly see only minor work.
‘We’re going to have our work zones in a smaller area this year which should greatly help with the traffic flow in and out of downtown State College,’ Maney said.
A few periods are planned that will have more of an impact on traffic. Beginning March 11, crews will replace a sewer line from Big Hollow Run to Park Avenue, which will require daytime closure of the right lane headed toward Park Avenue.
Sometime between March 27 and April 29, a box culvert will be installed at Big Hollow Run, resulting in one lane open in each direction. The contractor will be required to complete that work within a 10-day window. From May 6-23, one lane in each direction will be open in each direction as the road from Mitchell Avenue to Hillcrest Avenue undergoes complete reconstruction.
Work on drainage, curbing, sidewalk, roadway upgrades and widening will continue into the fall. Two lanes in each direction will remain open during heavy traffic times, such as Blue-White weekend, Penn State graduation weekend, Fourth of July, Arts Fest, Penn State move-in, and home football weekends.
Paving for the remainder of the project is expected to begin in late September, with an anticipated completion of Oct. 18. That may be extended into November, however, if crews get a head start on next year’s construction with drainage and curb work from Park Avenue to Curtin Road. That would avoid having to use a temporary signal, which limits pedestrian crossing, again next year at Park Avenue, Maney said.
In 2020, the Atherton Street project will continue through to Westerly Parkway. Eric Murnyack, PennDOT project manager, said the hope is to complete the work in one construction season, but that is still to be determined.
Hoag also noted that the borough will work with PennDOT to incorporate a traffic-calming and pedestrian safety project. Last year, State College was awarded $935,000 in Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside funds for pedestrian safety measures on Atherton Street between Beaver Avenue and Railroad Avenue. Those will include sidewalk improvements, pedestrian fencing, street lights, street furniture and landscape features for traffic calming.
Other road paving in the borough this year is expected to include East Beaver Avenue from High Street to the cul-de-sac; West Nittany and West Prospect avenues from South Allen Street to South Atherton Street; East Fairmount Avenue from South Allen Street to South Garner Street; North Sparks Street from West College Avenue to the Penn State campus; B Alley from East Nittany Avenue to East Fairmount Avenue; West Foster Avenue from South Barnard Street to South Fraser Street; and H Alley from East Beaver Avenue to East Foster Avenue.
Hoag said resurfacing of alleys has become more of a priority because of heavy truck usage. She added that all street work will be scheduled to minimize disruption.
Pugh Street
A water main break on the 100 block of South Pugh Street last summer accelerated the timeline for its replacement, said Julia Shaffer, communications and project manager for State College Borough Water Authority. That work is scheduled to begin with a saw cut at the end of April followed by excavation beginning May 6.
Work is expected to take four to six weeks and be completed before the Fourth of July. The work will be done in phases from East College Avenue to Calder Way, at East Calder Way, and East Calder Way to East Beaver Avenue. Access to the Pugh Street Garage and for deliveries will be maintained through the duration of the work. Sidewalks also will remain open.
Bicycle Facilities
Public works will perform maintenance on bike path sealcoating and signage.
‘We have a lot more people that commute via bicycle percentage-wise than a lot of areas do, so we want to have those routes in good shape for people,’ Hoag said.
In the future, the borough is looking to work on the bike path along Easterly/Westerly Parkway to connect areas such as Lederer Park and Orchard Park, the shared use path along Blue Course Drive from Orchard Park to Whitehall Road, and replacement of a 35-year-old shared use bridge on South Atherton Street across from CVS.
‘It’s not easy to find funding so we’re looking for some outside funding sources when it comes to doing some of those more regional connectors,’ Hoag said.
Parking
Though there are no immediate plans for a new parking garage downtown, the borough is conducting maintenance evaluations and has initiated a new study on downtown parking demands and needs.
Downtown development and the loss of some private parking have led the borough to consider what will be needed for future demand. Several options, including consolidating the Pugh Garage and McAllister Deck in a new garage, have been put suggested in the borough’s capital improvement plan.
One project that has seen some movement is a possible public-private partnership with Days Inn on Pugh Street to build a parking structure that would both replace the hotel’s current, aging deck and span over to Municipal Building property and be used as parking for borough and staff vehicles, with additional parking available.
No agreement has been reached as of yet, but both parties have been working with a consultant to address what needs can be served by the parking facility, Hoag said.
Sewers
The borough has studied the sanitary sewer on Calder Way and evaluated capacity needs to support downtown development. Hoag said borough staff now know what needs to be done and the project is ready for design.
Hoag said the borough also now has its draft Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit, which is issued every five years. Because the region is in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, municipalities are subject to more stringent stormwater management requirements, Hoag added.
State College, like other areas in the region, uses sinkholes with filtering systems as part of its stormwater management, and Hoag said for those some work needs to be done on needs to be done on filtering inlets and stormceptors. One requires work on its reverse filtration.
Hoag also said that street trees and rain gardens are important parts of stormwater management, and the borough’s largest rain garden was put in last year on Easterly Parkway.
Sidewalks
The sidewalk replacement plan for this year includes the downtown area. Inspections will take place in the spring and the project will be bid in early June. Property owners whose sidewalks need to be replaced will be notified and will have until September to do the work on their own or ask to use the borough contractor, which will finish any needed sidewalk replacements beginning in mid-September.
I-99
Though not in the borough proper, a portion of Interstate 99 will see some work beginning soon. While it will have some impact on commuters and visitors, it won’t be anything as significant as the I-99 work that lasted through the spring and summer of 2018.
PennDOT’s Murnyack said that patching and sealing work will take place on I-99 from the Blair County line to Gray’s Woods beginning April 1 and continuing through June 27. Murnyack said that to prevent backups during peak traffic times, the contract for the project prevents the contractor from working between 6-9 a.m. and 3-6 p.m.
An Elmwood Street bridge crossing over Spring Creek in Lemont will undergo rehabilitation work, requiring a detour. Packaged in that project is bridge deck and road repairs on the I-99 exit at Valley Vista Drive, just before the Home Depot. That combined project will be put out for bid in May.
On Route 322, the Potters Mills Gap project will continue, with completion expected in October 2020.