Route 13 Revamp To Be Completed In Next Few Weeks

Residents will be relieved to learn that construction along the Route 13 corridor is coming to a close after a three-and-half year revamp.

According to Tom Kerins, the construction manager for the project, the $36.5 million batch of improvements along a 4.3 mile stretch of Route 13 in Bristol Borough, Bristol Township and Tullytown is slated to be completed in the next few weeks.

All lanes are open on the highway and underwent an PennDOT inspection last week, said Kerins, adding that landscaping, sidewalks, handicap walkways and new signaling is all that’s left to be completed.

“It is essentially a brand new highway,” a PennDOT representative told LevittownNow.com. “One that we hope will be a safer one, not only for motorists but for pedestrians as well.”

One of the most notable adaptations to the roadway, according to Kerins, is the removal of many of the jughandles both north and southbound – which made traveling along the corridor difficult and confusing; many have since been replaced with left turn lanes. The concrete jughandle by the Golden Eagle diner is set to be ripped up as the project nears completion.

The goal behind the road work is to make the heavily-used roadway friendlier for pedestrians, businesses and commuters.

Route 13 is now home to a consistent two lane traffic pattern in both directions, new coordinating traffic signals which should help limit traffic issues, new drainage, and grassy medians separating the lanes of travel. Kerins noted that new flowering plantings that have been planted approaching the intersections in Bristol Borough will be maintained by the locality.

One of the other major changes with the project was PennDOT swapping from a concrete road surface to an black top surface. In the past, project officials have said the change will save PennDOT money and help them maintain the road surface.

Back in January, PennDOT’s Charles Metzger noted that they had reached a negotiation with the project contractor, James D. Morrissey Inc., at no additional cost to taxpayers, to complete the project this October rather than the original date earlier this summer. Metzger said earlier this year that the biggest problem was improperly marked utilities, mainly between Green Lane and Levittown Parkway.