Road, Exit Closures Planned for Work on High-Speed Interchange Project

Work on the high-speed interchange connecting Interstates 80 and 99 in Centre County will cause upcoming closures of Jacksonville Road and I-80 exits near Bellefonte, according to PennDOT.

Thursday, Oct. 8

Jacksonville Road between between Forest Avenue and I-80 westbound will be closed from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, weather permitting, for the contractor to set beams for the bridge that will eventually connect I-80 westbound to the I-99 southbound ramp.

I-99 northbound traffic heading toward I-80 westbound will be directed onto I-80 eastbound at exit 161/Bellefonte, where it will continue to exit 163/Jacksonville-Howard and reconnect to I-80 westbound.

The I-80 westbound off-ramp at exit 161 also will be closed. Traffic instead will take the158/Milesburg exit and follow I-80 eastbound back to exit 161.

Beginning Monday, Oct. 12

The eastbound on-ramp for I-80 at the 161/Bellefonte exit will be closed starting Monday and continuing through the end of October while the contractor performs regrading and stabilization, then paves the travel lane and eastbound on ramp. The work is being done in preparation to direct traffic onto the newly completed bridge spanning Jacksonville Road.

Drivers on I-99 heading to I-80 eastbound will take Jacksonville Road to the westbound on-ramp at 161 and follow the detour leading them back to I-80 eastbound at Milesburg.

Rolling slowdowns of 15 minutes or less for blasting also will be in place the week of Oct. 12.

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 is also underway on the third phase to 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.