After a ‘long road,’ the first phase of the Jacksonville Road project is open in Centre County
The state Department of Transportation celebrated Thursday the completion and opening of the first phase of the Jacksonville Road project, the Interstate 80/local interchange.
The $52 million interchange project is part of a “long-awaited safety improvement” in Centre County that will provide direct access between state Route 26 and Interstate 80 at a diamond interchange, according to PennDOT’s website. It will only be used by local traffic going to state Route 26.
It is the first phase of a three-phase project to build local access, a high-speed interchange connection between Interstate 99 and Interstate 80, and improve Jacksonville Road (Route 26).
“As a whole these projects will create a safer and more convenient travel system on I-80 and I-99 in the Centre County region. These improvements will benefit local residents as well as travelers moving through the area,” Tom Zurat, district executive for PennDOT’s District 2, said.
Though there are still two phases to be done, the completion of the first phase is worth celebrating.
“It’s been a really, really long road to get here,” Larry Shifflet, deputy secretary for transportation planning at PennDOT, said.
This project, along with the high-speed interchange, was supposed to be the finishing touch on the I-99 corridor project, Zurat said. But in 2004, the project was shelved due to funding shortfalls, and when the project was started back up in 2008, it was again shelved a year later.
Zurat said in 2017, PennDOT’s deputy secretary for planning at the time, Jim Ritzman, and his staff “recognized the statewide importance of this group of projects.” They recommended it be the only project that Pennsylvania submitted for the federal Infrastructure For Rebuilding America grant. In July 2018, the project was awarded an initial $35 million INFRA grant.
Act 89 of 2013, which was a comprehensive piece of state transportation legislation, was also instrumental for the projects to move forward, Shifflet said.
The next milestone will be to bid the high-speed interchange project, which is scheduled for August 2023. There is also a betterment project for Jacksonville Road (Route 26) to be bid next fall.
The Jacksonville Road Betterment project will reconstruct and widen state Route 26 to “maintain and support the state roadway network,” PennDOT’s website states. The cost estimate is $6.1 million.
The I-80 High Speed Interchange will provide a direct connection between Interstate 99 and Interstate 80 with high-speed ramps, the website states, so motorists will not need to travel along state Route 26 to access either highway. The stop-controlled intersections will be removed and realigned to service local traffic, the website states. The cost estimate is $190 million.
“Completing all three of these projects, once we’re done, will help the economy, continue to help move people get them quicker on I-80, and at most and forefront importance is in a much safer manner. Safety was a big component of this,” Shifflet said.
State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, said his office has gotten countless calls about the intersection and concerns about Jacksonville Road. He thanked those who worked on the project and told them they were creating a safer environment.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, agreed, and said that because the project was invested in, lives will be saved.
“We’re going to save lives at this intersection out here. We’re going to save lives in other projects around here in Pennsylvania, because we had public officials who had the courage to step up and invest in ourselves and that’s what’s important,” Corman said.
HRI, Inc., of State College, was the contractor of the project. The company’s president, Jeff Lamb, said the job was bid and built through “some of the toughest times in this county,” the COVID-19 pandemic. He thanked his employees, and PennDOT and the consultants who worked collaboratively with them.
Centre County Commissioner Michael Pipe echoed that and said projects like these do not happen without the workers, “who put your sore backs, chapped hands, calloused hands into this project.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
