Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
New sidewalk construction along New Falls Road will mean a lane closure last week.
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PennDOT has announced a weekday lane closure is planned along New Falls Road between Veterans Highway (Route 413) and Bristol-Oxford Valley Road in Bristol Township and Middletown Township’s Levittown section. The closure will start on Monday, August 29 and run through Friday, September 9 from 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The work will be for roadway construction as part of the project to improve pedestrian safety on a nearly one-mile-long section of New Falls Road by building a sidewalk, according to PennDOT.
“Motorists are advised to allow extra time when traveling through the work area because backups and delays may occur,” the state transit department said in a statement.
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The years-in-the-making project will construct sidewalks alongside a stretch of New Falls Road in Bristol Township and Middletown Township between Durham Road and Bristol-Oxford Valley Road.
PennDOT’s safety improvement plan includes the installation of crosswalk pavement markings to delineate pedestrian routes along the corridor; installation of pedestrian signal equipment in conjunction with the addition of ADA curb ramps to further improve pedestrian safety; and the addition of protected left-turn traffic signals to improve motorist safety.
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The work is expected to be finished in spring 2024.
Marino Corporation, of Montgomery County, is the general contractor on the $1.4 million project. PennDOT said the work is being funded entirely with federal dollars.
Bristol Township resident Sharon Rearick’s son, John, was killed by a hit-and-run driver along New Falls Road in 2012. For years, she has campaigned and petitioned to get the sidewalks installed.
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Rearick believes her son, who was walking home after a night at the bar when he was struck by a driver who fled the scene, would be alive he had sidewalks to trek home along New Falls Road.
After Rearick’s push for sidewalks and support from the two municipalities, PennDOT began planning for the sidewalks.
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One obstacle for PennDOT was clearing the right-of-way along the roadway.
Following Rearick’s call for more sidewalks, Falls Township several years ago installed a concrete and asphalt sidewalk along New Falls Road between Vermillion Drive and Penn Valley Drive.
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