Construction on the Canoe Creek Bridge on Interstate 80 in Clarion County and the North Fork Bridge in Jefferson County will not begin until 2023 – at the earliest.
Alice Hammond, PennDOT District 10 assistant district executive, said there are nine “candidate bridges” and construction will depend on where things stand in the design process.
Although she said construction could begin in 2023, it would probably be later than that time frame because of the remaining steps needed to get to the point of being able to start construction.
PennDOT District 10 Executive Director Brian Allen said the agency must first get through the impact study and “mitigate those,” and then “get the packages” from the development group to determine “if those make sense for the price.”
The bridge-tolling package and construction will depend on when PennDOT’s Pathways Major Bridge Public-Private Partnership (P3) Initiative package would be approved.
“Traffic won’t be detoured during construction,” Hammond said. “We will maintain traffic in two lanes in each direction during construction.”
She said the eastbound lanes on the North Fork Bridge are currently parallel with the westbound lanes.
“That has led to a higher number of crashes,” Hammond said. “We are going to realign the eastbound lanes with the westbound lanes so the bridges will be right beside each other. There will also be a new westbound bridge.”
The current eastbound bridge will be demolished.
On Wednesday, several PennDOT employees met with local stakeholders in Brookville.
“We are reaching out to the local communities to get their thoughts on the diversion routes that may be affected if tolling goes into place on the North Fork Bridge,” Allen said. “We want to get their feedback on what might happen if a toll goes into place.”
Allen explained the difference between a diversion and a detour.
“When we shut the interstate down, all of the traffic would go through town,” he said. “A diversion is the choice people would make to avoid paying the toll.”
“Local traffic may decide to go through the towns to avoid paying the toll,” he said.
According to Jenn Walsh, Traffic and Planning Section Manager for District 10, the North Fork diversion route adds under 1 mile to the trip; in normal traffic conditions, the diversion route adds about seven minutes of travel time.
The diversion route is onto Route 322 (Main Street), in Brookville.
The Canoe Creek diversion route, which is through Knox Borough, is about an additional 7 miles, with 13 minutes of increased travel time under normal traffic conditions.
“Once the statewide diversion route workshops are completed, we will be holding a public meeting to share our progress,” said Christina Gibbs, District 10 community relations coordinator.
The meeting dates and location will be announced at a later date.