In our previous newsletter, we commented on the quality-of-life benefits that occur upon completion of a highway construction project, in that case the widening of Route 202 in Chester County.
As that one was celebrated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, a new project was launched. Upgrading the Conchester Highway, a 3.6-mile stretch of U.S. 322 from Route 1 in Concord to I-95 in Chester, will take several years, with construction beginning next year.
Although 80 percent of the money is federal funds, the project would not have proceeded without the 20 percent match generated by Act 89, the highway funding measure approved in 2013.
It will mean congestion relief, to be sure, but it is very much a safety project – of 430 crashes on the highway since 2008, six of them were fatalities, and five more caused serious injuries. Improved safety and congestion relief – how’s that for a quality-of-life boost?
Transportation Issue Update
- Delaware County Daily Times Editor/columnist Phil Heron noted the quality-of-life benefits that will result from the $248 million upgrade of U.S. 322 that connects Route 1 in Concord with I-95 in Chester.
- Numerous news outlets across the Commonwealth noted that the State Transportation Commission has unveiled its biennial update of the 12-year transportation program, which anticipates that nearly $62 billion will be spend on the various transportation modes.
- The PA Turnpike Commission is holding a series of open-house meetings regarding the latest revisions of a plan to build the long-awaited Mon-Fayette Expressway between Monroeville and the South Hills.
- APC’s Bob Latham was quoted in a recent news article about automated speed enforcement in work zones.
- PennDOT is soliciting motorists’ input in a highway safety survey, which you can take here.
- PennDOT projects that the first fully autonomous vehicles will hit the mainstream market in as little as the next four years.
- PennDOT received kudos from the Federal Highway Administration for its use of cutting-edge technologies to reduce fatalities and accelerate highway projects.
- A study shows that raising the speed limit on the Turnpike to 70 mph is resulting in greater compliance with the speeding law.