Pocono News Section

Rt. 15 Repairs Underway in Lycoming County

Rt. 15 Repairs Underway in Lycoming County - Friday, March 14, 2008 at 5:00PM EST

Reported by: Jeremy Deebel
Friday, Mar 14, 2008 @05:00pm EST
Cogan House Township, Lycoming County-

More than 40 years of improvements to Route 15 in Central Pennsylvania will wrap up with a $60 million repair project in northern Lycoming County. Officials call it a dangerous stretch of roadway. State Representative Garth Everett said, "Absolutely safety is the issue here."

Federal, state, and local officials gathered here to break ground on a major project to update a ten-mile stretch of the Route 15 corridor, which was originally designed some 85 years ago. PennDOT District Executive Sandra Tosca explained, "On 15, the southbound lanes, which actually part of them are the old 1923 alignment, are going to be reconstructed, with an alignment to meet interstate standards. And there are a couple sections in the northbound lanes that we're going to re-align just to improve the curves in those areas."

New interchanges will be added and road paving or re-surfacing will be done where needed. Four new bridges will also be built. The section of the Route 15 corridor being repaired in northern Lycoming County runs from Trout Run to Buttonwood. It's a mountainous, windy stretch of road notorious for bad accidents. Officials say when this project is finished, the road will be much safer for drivers. "From a safety standpoint, we really think it's a critical final piece of work," noted PennDOT Secretary Allen Biehler.

The investment in road repairs is also expected to pay economic dividends. Representative Everett added, "Route 15 is the north/south connector through the middle of Pennsylvania and there is a lot of truck traffic and a lot of commerce on this road, and this will just enhance that."

But between now and the completion of the repairs, motorists are urged to be patient and careful in construction zones. "People are going to have to pay attention because we're going to have some construction phasing as the project progresses and changes in travel patterns," Ms. Tosca said.

Traffic will be diverted to the southbound lanes of Route 15 for the first year of construction, then to the northbound lanes for the final two years of the project. The Route 15 corridor repairs are expected to wrap up by late 2010.