Construction to redevelop several miles of General Potter Highway near Route 144 in Potter Township is set to begin this year.
When finished, a new bridge and interchanges and the extension of Route 322’s four-lane highway through the Potters Mills Gap will reduce traffic and is expected to improve the overall safety through an area that sees heavy traffic.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation estimates that each day 13,000 vehicles travel the 3.75-mile “gap,” which is formed by Triester and Kohler mountains. That number climbs to 20,000 during Penn State home football game weekends.
A groundbreaking ceremony took place in October near the Potters Mills V.F.W. when the project was officially announced. Former PennDOT secretary Barry Schoch said the project has a history that dates back to the 1980s.
“This isn’t a new idea,” Schoch said. “This project has been at the forefront of people’s minds.” A lack in funding, however, had stalled the possibility of this project despite a history of accidents through that area, he said.
According to Schoch, based on area studies, this project was long overdue and when finished will address the mobility and safety of the residents in Central Pennsylvania and travelers through the area.
Funding has come from the commonwealth’s new transportation plan, Act 89, which was passed in 2013. The state has already generated $331 million in 2014 through changes in the state gas tax and increases in license and vehicle registration fees. The Pennsylvania Highway Information Association claims that $2.3 billion will be raised by the 2017-18 fiscal year for statewide transportation projects.
The project will be completed in three phases, said Karen Michael, PennDOT assistant district executive of design.
Phase one of the project was bid to Jay Fulkroad & Sons, of McAlisterville. Craig Sattesahn, a PennDOT project manager, said this phase was bid out for just less than $2 million. An additional $350,000 will be added to this part of the project, he said, for inspection and construction services.
Michaels said there are designs to construct a bridge over Route 322 at the Sand Mountain Road intersection, about a mile before the highway drops from four to two lanes going toward State College. The bridge will connect the access roads on either side of Route 322 at Sand Mountain Road.
Michael said traffic should still flow regularly during this part of construction with the possibility of a shoulder or lane restriction when parts of the bridge are being put in.
The second phase of the project will go to bid in early 2016, Michael said, and will put an interchange at Route 322 and Sand Mountain Road.
“Right now you have full access at that intersection where you can turn left and go across,” Michael said. “This would actually put an interchange at that intersection where you don’t have that conflict.”
The interchanges should be finished by the end of the 2016 construction season, she said. Just like the construction of phase one, there should only be minimal traffic impacts and a lane or shoulder restriction as needed. Sattesahn said this part of the project is currently expected to cost about $5.5 million.
Phase three of the project will be the most costly and take the longest to complete. It will go to bid in early 2017, Michael said, and entail extending the existing four-lane highway that currently ends at Decker Valley Road through the gap.
An interchange from the new four-lane highway where Route 322 currently meets Route 144 going toward Centre Hall will also go in during this part of the project, making access safer, Michael said.
“We haven’t worked out all of the details, but we’re going to minimize the impact to the traveling public by using existing roads that are there right now,” she said. “There will be impacts, but we’ll try to minimize as much as we possibly can.”
Construction of the four-lane highway extension and interchange to Route 144 is expected to be completed during 2019 and is estimated to cost about $106.7 million, Sattesahn said.
While there has been discussion of extending the four-lane highway along Route 322 to where it picks up again near Boalsburg, there currently isn’t enough funding to do that, Michael said. The Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization, however, has asked PennDOT to do a “data refresh” since the most recent information gathered on that possible project was gathered in 2004.
“They know that there’s a lot of interest in that project and believe we will get something programmed,” she said. “Obviously in 11 years there’s been a lot of changes.”
For more information about the project, visit www.dot.state.pa.us and search using “Potters Mills Gap.”
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