Construction season is almost back: Work on I-80, I-99 in Centre County to begin next week
A $259 million project to construct a direct, high-speed connection between the top two highways in Centre County is set to resume Monday, kicking off the 2025 construction season.
Pittsburgh-based contractor Trumbull Corp. is to begin excavating Monday along Interstate 80 westbound between mile markers 160 and 158, the state Department of Transportation said. The agency urged drivers to stay alert for trucks and not follow them behind concrete barriers.
While that work is ongoing, PennDOT said flaggers will be on state Route 26 between the eastbound and westbound off-ramps to I-80. They are expected to be on the road at 7 a.m. daily until at least March 7.
The right lane of I-80 eastbound between mile markers 158 and 161 is to be closed from about 6 p.m. Tuesday until about 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Beginning the week of March 10, drivers should expect about two overnight, single-lane closures on Interstate 99. The contractor is slated to place concrete barriers for a long-term traffic pattern.
The long-awaited and highly-anticipated project will use high-speed ramps to create a direct connection between the two interstates. Drivers will no longer need to use Route 26 to access either of them.
Construction began last summer and is to be completed by 2030. About $170 million of the project’s funding came from the $1 trillion federal infrastructure legislation that passed in 2021.
Building the new high-speed interchange is the second phase of a three-part project.
The first involved the construction of a new, $52 million interchange that gave local drivers direct access between Route 26 and I-80. Construction began in 2020 and was completed in 2022.
The final phase is an $8.6 million project to reconstruct and widen Route 26. State College-based contractor Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. is the contractor on the project. Excavation work began in November and active construction is to begin in the 2025 construction season.
