Route 13 Construction: Workers Continue To Rebuild Heavily-Traveled Corridor

Anyone who has driven on Route 13 any time in the past two years must have noticed the seemingly perpetual construction designed to make the corridor safer and more aesthetically appealing.

The construction began in March 2013 and was quickly hampered by utility confusion and a brutal weather that slowed work.

“There were things not supposed to be there, and things supposed to be there that weren’t,” Charles Metzger, the community relations coordinator for PennDOT, told LevittownNow.com in a recent interview.

A large part of the early construction, and much of the reason for the delay in the completion of the project, was the tangled river of utilities underneath the roadway. After the untangling, the project has been moving smoothly, explained Metzger.

Despite the project seemingly taking a long time to finish, there is a crew of almost 40 people from contractor James D. Morrissey Inc. are working on the project each day to finish the work that stretches from Levittown Parkway in Tullytown to Veterans Highway (Route 413) on the Bristol Borough and Bristol Township border.

“For the most part, the underground construction is complete, even on the southern end. I think a lot of the unknowns have been discovered and resolved at this point,” said Tom Kerins of Urban Engineers Inc., the construction manager on the project.

According to Metzger and Kerins, the northern end of the project will be getting finalized in the next few months.

Asphalt is replacing more and more of the recognizable tan concrete road surface that made up the under-construction 4.3-mile stretch of road. PennDOT’s plans called for shifting to asphalt from concrete for the project due to its lower cost and ease of maintenance and repair, officials have previously stated.

The Route 13 rejuvenation project started after then-Congressman Jim Greenwood obtained a grant for the project, according to Metzger. After the grant was secured, a rejuvenation study took place along the corridor stretching from Levittown Parkway down to Route 413.

The purpose of the project is to make the heavily-used roadway friendlier for pedestrians and businesses.

When finished, the roughly $40 million project is expected to revitalize the busy commuter route by creating a new median, adding sidewalks in Bristol Borough and Bristol Township, rebuild the roadway and add left turn lanes and ridding the area of several jug handles.

“I think it has the potential to change the character of Route 13 from a kind of industrial highway to a more commercial parkway,” Kerins, who has been working on the project as construction manager since the beginning of project, explained.

The roadway, despite not being finished yet, is already friendlier in the northern end of construction, where constructed mediums and grass replace the middle of the previously worn concrete surface.

The first two years, plus recent months, had focused efforts on the northern end of the project, reaching from Green Lane in Bristol Township to Levittown Parkway in Tullytown.

According to Kerins, late September will likely signal the completion of the northern side of the project. The rest of the project will be finished by fall 2016 if the rest of the work moves forward smoothly, Metzger explained.

When the project began in 2013, the original planned completion date was October 2015. By early 2014, the completion date was pushed to 2016.

“Projects like these require public input,” Metzger said. Early on in the project, before construction started, a meeting for the public was held where between 30 and 40 people attended.

One persistent problem that has continued throughout the construction is the businesses on the roadway. Over time, businesses have dealt with declining sales and hard to find entrances.

“There are some [business] owners who just don’t want to drive through a construction zone,” Metzger said. “[It] has been a continuous dialogue with business owners.”

The sidewalks being added to the roadway in Bristol Borough and Bristol Township will allow a safe increase in pedestrian foot traffic.

“I think the businesses along the corridor will benefit when it is done,” Kerins explained. “But it certainly is a struggle for some of the businesses during construction.”