State College Area Connector recommendation marks milestone. What’s next?
Pennsylvania’s transportation agency marked a significant milestone Monday when it unveiled its recommended route for a major highway construction project in Centre County, but the blueprint is still years away from coming to fruition.
Construction for the State College Area Connector is slated to begin in 2030 and continue until the end of 2035, meaning most of Penn State’s freshman class that year are currently in third grade.
Those hoping to have their input included in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s planning process, however, will have more immediate opportunities.
A public meeting is scheduled for 4-8 p.m. Thursday at Wyndham Garden State College, 310 Elks Club Road in Boalsburg. Attendees may ask questions and offer feedback to PennDOT officials. The agency will continue to accept feedback until May 18.
The central alternative would largely run just south of the existing U.S. Route 322 in Potter and Harris townships, except a stretch roughly between Bamboo Lane and Tait Road. That section would see construction north of the existing highway.
The project is estimated to cost between $600 million and $900 million, a PennDOT spokesman told the Centre Daily Times.
After the most recent comment period, PennDOT’s next step is to prepare a draft environmental impact study that will lead to a hearing for the Federal Highway Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Once the study is finalized, the FHWA will have an opportunity to sign off on the project and close out the environmental investigations.
The project could then have the OK to move into the final engineering design phase, which is slated to begin in mid-2026 and continue until the end of 2029.
That would be followed by right-of-way acquisition, a process that can be messy and end up in the court system. Sixteen residences would be displaced by PennDOT’s preferred route, the least of the final three options it was considering. Nineteen farms, two commercial properties and a park would also be disturbed.
Construction would then follow.
The central route was the alignment most preferred by those who responded to a public survey. The agency said the suggested route would have the smallest total effect on agricultural land and four historic properties, as well as avoid the Tusseyville historic district.
More than a dozen bridges would be needed to mitigate impacts to wetlands and streams, the only drawback listed by PennDOT. Fifteen were listed among the other two potential routes. The agency cast the potential for encountering sinkholes as moderate.
Residents and business owners have waited years to learn of PennDOT’s recommendation, fearing it could upend their livelihoods or see their homes and businesses taken through eminent domain.
The project would create an about eight-mile, four-lane limited access highway connecting the Mount Nittany Expressway in Boalsburg to the newly constructed portion of Route 322 in Potters Mills. With regional growth projected in future decades, PennDOT has said the project will improve safety and reduce congestion by diverting about half of total traffic and nearly three-fourths of truck traffic from local roads.