Summer 2020 – Paving crews are busy this summer along U.S. 322 (Conchester Highway) in Concord Township, Delaware County, placing asphalt pavement for the two new westbound lanes to wrap-up the second major stage of construction on the $65 million Section 101 project to widen and improve 2.5 miles of the highway by this fall.
Crews started paving prior to the six-week work shutdown in March and April due to the COVID-19 virus and returned in May. Work resumed under a COVID-19 Safety Plan that mandated numerous protocols for social distancing, the use of personal protective equipment, and other measures designed to enhance worker safety.
Work on the two westbound bridges — over Webb Creek and over Smithbridge Road — has finished, with concrete decks, outside parapets, approach pavement to both new, wider structures in place.
The final stage of construction on this project, Stage 3, will begin once Stage 2 construction currently underway is completed in late-July or early August. Stage 3 will consist of a median work zone, with one lane of westbound traffic shifted to the newly constructed westbound lane while a single lane of eastbound traffic remains on the eastbound side.
Following the traffic shift, work will begin on construction of the grass median and installation of center turn-lanes with raised medians at the intersections of Evergreen Drive (westbound); Fellowship Drive/Station Road (eastbound/westbound); Cambridge Drive (westbound); Matson Road/Featherbed Lane (eastbound/westbound); and Clayton Park Drive (westbound). Improvements to the intersections at U.S. 1 (Baltimore Pike) also will be completed during the final stage.
The final course of pavement, the riding surface, will be placed on the entire project at the end of this stage to complete the Section 101 project this fall.
Area motorists are reminded that under a separate but nearby project, the bridge carrying Concord Road over Green Creek is closed and detoured between Valentine Drive and Foulk Road in Concord Township until early February 2021 for replacement. During the closure, Concord Road motorists are being detoured over Valley Brook Road and Smithbridge Road. Local access will be maintained up to the construction zone. Go here for more information.
Under the current contract, PennDOT is reconstructing and widening the roadway and upgrading intersections and traffic signals on 2.5 miles of U.S. 322 (Conchester Highway) from U.S 1 (Baltimore Pike) to just east of Featherbed Lane/Mattson Road near Clayton Park in Concord Township, Delaware County. The work is the first of three PennDOT construction projects that will improve travel and safety on a 6.7-mile section of U.S. 322 (Conchester Highway).
Design engineering continues on two additional projects (Section 102, 103) that will finish the widening and reconstruction of U.S. 322 (Conchester Highway) from east of Clayton Park Drive through the Route 452 (Market Street) in Bethel and Upper Chichester townships.
A fourth corridor improvement contract to replace the U.S. 322 (Conchester Highway) bridge over the CSX railroad and Bethel Road and complete other improvements to the adjacent Bethel Road Interchange, Section CSX, remains under design as well.
During all remaining U.S. 322 (Conchester Highway) construction, PennDOT will maintain a lane of traffic in each direction on U.S. 322 (Conchester Highway) during peak hour travel. Motorists may find periodic flagger-controlled lane restrictions at locations across the work zone on Mondays through Fridays from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and from 7:00 PM and 6:00 AM, for various operations as construction advances along the corridor.
