Massive Route 1 Overhaul Set To Get Underway

A massive multi-year project to revamp Route 1 from the Philadelphia border into Middletown will get underway next week.

PennDOT officials and the governor’s office dropped the news Tuesday that crews will begin work on the first phase of the four-year project. The first steps will be to reconstruct and widen a 1.3-mile-long section of Route 1 from Old Lincoln Highway to just south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Neshaminy Interchange in Bensalem.

Utility relocations and other minor work will kick off next week with additional construction beginning in spring 2019, PennDOT spokesperson Brad Rudolph said.

The work this fall and winter, according to a PennDOT statement, will also include temporary reconstruction and widening of existing shoulders along Route 1 and Street Road, installation of a temporary traffic signal at Street Road and Township Road, extension of Township Road to maintain access to several businesses, construction of a new driveway for the Red Roof Inn, and stormwater and stream improvements.

When work kicks into high gear in spring, crews will replace and improve the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Street Road interchange ramps and begin construction on rebuilding eastbound Street Road and the configuration of two new ramps for the realignment of the Route 1 interchange at Route 1, which will include an intersection with a traffic light.

PennDOT released some more details on the plan:

• Constructing a third travel lane along Route 1 in each direction from the Street Road interchange to just north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Interchange;
• Building an auxiliary lane along Route 1 in each direction between the Street Road and Pennsylvania Turnpike interchanges;
• Raising the profile of Route 1 from south of the Street Road Interchange to north of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Interchange to improve vertical clearances for Route 1 structures over Street Road, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Interchange ramps;
• Upgrading Route 1 interchanges at Street Road and the Pennsylvania Turnpike;
• Adding a northbound right-turn lane along Route 1 from Old Lincoln Highway to Street Road;
• Reconfiguring the Street Road Interchange and adding a ramp from Street Road eastbound to Route 1 southbound;
• Increasing the existing loop ramp radius to improve design speed to 30 miles-per-hour and incorporating a second lane on the U.S 1 northbound exit ramp to the Pennsylvania Turnpike;
• Removing the existing bridge that carries Route 1 over a closed private access road; and
• Reconstructing four bridges.

While the upcoming construction is part of the first phase, the next two phases of the work will be completed by 2022 and stretch from the city border to just past the Pine Street (Route 413) overpass in Middletown, according to PennDOT.

PennDOT is seeking to construct a third travel lane and an auxiliary lane to each direction of Route 1 from the Rockhill Drive intersection in Bensalem to just past the Penndel interchange in Middletown. They are also looking to replace three bridges over Route 1, build a sound barrier, add three retaining walls, and upgrade safety at the interchanges.

On Wednesday, November 7, PennDOT will host a town hall at the Middletown Municipal Building at 3 Municipal Way at 6 p.m.

“The purpose of the open house is to present the public with progress plans and a status update on the project. The meeting will be conducted as an open-house plans display where citizens will have the opportunity to circulate among the subject displays to gather information and discuss the different facets of the project with PennDOT’s design team,” officials said.

In 2014, PennDOT officials pitched a similar project for the Route 1 corridor. However, it was met by the public with a mixed reaction.

Rudolph said funding has been secured for the project. The first phase, as noted in a PennDOT a press release, will cost $97.3 million and will be carried out by contractor Allan A. Myers Inc. of Montgomery County. Funding is 80 percent from the federal government and 20 percent from the state. The second phase is estimated to cost $110 million and no estimate has been published for the third phase.

The project comes shortly after PennDOT has completed work on a much smaller effort to improve safety along Route 1 at Route 13 in Falls Township and Morrisville.

The new project has a dedicated website that PennDOT plans to update frequently.