Overhead utility relocations are expected to cause “significant impacts” on traffic next week along part of Interstate 80 in Centre County, according to PennDOT.
Rolling slowdowns and stoppages will be implemented beginning at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30, between mile markers 158 and 163 in both directions for crews to perform the work as part of the I-80/I-99 high-speed interchange project.
PennDOT expects traffic stoppages of 15 minutes at a time throughout the day until about 3 p.m. Drivers are urged to plan for delays or seek alternate routes.
Motorists traveling eastbound may wish to use Exit 161 at Bellefonte exit and follow Route 26 to reconnect with I-80 at the163/Jacksonville Road exit, according to PennDOT. The department suggests westbound traffic use Exit 173 at Lamar and follow Route 64 back to I-80 at the 161/Bellefonte exit.
“Drivers following these routes will not avoid the work zone entirely and should still build extra time into their travel schedules,” PennDOT wrote in a news release.
Verizon, Zito Media and project contractor Trumbull Corporation will be performing the utility relocations.
Work on the long-anticipated $259 million interchange project began in September. Once completed, the interchange 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, ten bridges, four retaining walls, five box culverts, seven sign structures and three changeable message boards,” according to PennDOT. “It also includes constructing new and rebuilding existing roadways and ramps, drainage improvements, installing Intelligent Transportation Devices, guide rail and highway lighting, pavement marking, stream improvements and miscellaneous construction.”
Work will be completed over the next six construction seasons, ending in 2030.
The interchange is the second and largest phase of a three-phase project. The third phase, which will reconstruct and widen Route 26/Jacksonville Road from the I-80 Bellefonte exit to Shay Lane in Marion Township, is projected to cost $6.9 million. It is expected to begin this year and continue into the 2026 construction season.
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.
