Stimulus funds eyed for linking I-80, I-99

By Anne Danahy

Despite objections from many local residents, Centre County transportation planners are hoping to tap into $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money to help pay for two new interchanges connecting Interstate 80 and Interstate 99.

The Centre County Metropolitan Planning Organization, which handles transportation planning, voted Tuesday night to move forward with plans for a high-speed interchange in Marion Township to connect I-80 and I-99 and a second interchange, about three miles away, that would give local traffic access to the highways.

Their hope is that the projects, which have a total price tag of $162 million, will qualify for federal stimulus money in a transportation grants program.

MPO Transportation Planner Tom Zilla said the selection criteria is “very stringent” so his office will have to look very carefully at how well it will meet those requirements. The deadline for applying for funding is Sept. 15, and the grants are slated to be announced in February.

“This program is aimed at projects that are ready to move forward,” Zilla said.

PennDOT has finished design work for the $43 million local access interchange and is finishing the design of the $119 million high-speed interchange.

To qualify for the federal money, projects also must cost between $20 million and $200 million. Plans are already in the works to get $50 million to $60 million in funding for the high-speed interchange from a federal source known as the Appalachian Regional Commission. Transportation planners are hoping the stimulus money can be obtained to cover the rest of the costs.

Centre County Board of Commissioners Chairman Jon Eich said the project is important for safety and economic reasons. Like other roads in the county that are part of the national highway system, but in need of improvements, the section gets local, regional and national traffic.

“It’s kind of a deadly mix,” he said. “You’ve got local traffic making left-hand turns on local roads. You’ve got regional commuters who live outside the county, but work here, and you’ve got through traffic.”

The MPO’s action also included support for safety improvements to state Route 26. Many residents of Marion Township had appealed to the MPO to reconsider plans to build a separate, local interchange, concerned that it will increase traffic congestion on the two-lane road.

In a June 3 letter to Marion Township supervisors, president of the Howard Volunteer Fire Company Thomas Bowes wrote that the traffic from the I-80 interchange with Route 26, “along with the proposed re-opening of the Jacksonville stone quarry on such a road, not only will further jeopardize response time, but will certainly present a much higher probability of severe, or fatal traffic accidents.”

However, officials in neighboring townships urged the MPO not to abandon the plans for two interchanges that have been in the works for a decade, saying they will improve road safety.

Bellefonte, for example, told PennDOT that it opposed eliminating the local interchange. Without that interchange, borough officials said in a letter that truck traffic would end up in the borough’s “older streets which are not designed for truck traffic.”

The Federal Highway Administration also warned that if the projects were scrapped, the state would have to repay about $27 million in federal money that has already been spent on design work.

Anne Danahy can be reached at 231-4648.