If you go
What: PennDOT meeting on Route 356 widening project
When: 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Allegheny Township Municipal Building, 136 Community Building Road
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Updated 8 hours ago
Allegheny Township residents will have a chance to see PennDOT's plans for the truck climbing lane project to widen Route 356 near the Freeport Bridge.
PennDOT officials will hold a public meeting Wednesday to unveil the plans and answer questions. The design team will have a presentation at 5:30 p.m.
The roughly $10 million to $15 million project will improve about a mile and half of Route 356 from the White Cloud Road intersection to the Freeport Bridge.
The road will go from two lanes to four lanes to allow traffic in both directions to safely pass slower-moving vehicles.
A two-way left turn lane also will be added between Crain Road and Key Lane.
Troy Pritts, project manager with PennDOT, said the work is intended to improve mobility and safety for the nearly 11,000 drivers who travel the road each day.
“Your larger trucks are probably going pretty slow up the hill,” Pritts said. “As you travel out through there, it's a bit of a roller coaster.”
The stretch of road has been the site of numerous accidents.
Pritts said the project likely will take two years to complete. An official start and end date has not been determined.
No detour is planned because PennDOT will keep one lane open during construction.
Township Manager Greg Primm said the project has been a long time coming.
“We worked hard to get this project,” Primm said.
Primm said he found requests for this project going back 20 years.
He said the township has been working locally through its transportation committee and with the county's economic development officials to get the project in motion.
“I think we took the right steps to try to finally get the attention for the project,” he said.
Pritts encouraged residents to come to the meeting and see the plans.
He said the last time PennDOT held a public meeting for the project was last spring.
“We just want to come out again and meet with everybody,” Pritts said.
Emily Balser is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 724-226-4680 or emilybalser@tribweb.com.
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