PennDOT makes minor changes to State College Area Connector routes. What we know
Minor adjustments to two of the three possible State College Area Connector Project routes were made to reduce potential environmental impacts, the state Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.
Changes were made to the north alternative and central (recommended preferred) alternative routes. No changes were made to the south alternative route.
PennDOT announced in May its long-awaited recommended route for the project — the central alternative route — which 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.
For the recommended route, the design team shifted a small segment south to reduce impacts to the Potter Township Athletic Complex and to avoid directly impacting the baseball fields, PennDOT said in a news release. It will also reduce impacts on a farming operation.
A change to the north alternative route near Wagner Road moved a proposed stormwater management facility to avoid impacts to a historic property.
“The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) will evaluate all the alternatives. PennDOT expects the DEIS to be released for public comment later this year. A public hearing will also occur for the public to provide testimony on the DEIS,” the release states.
The agency previously 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.
The project is estimated to cost between $600 million and $900 million, a PennDOT spokesman previously told the Centre Daily Times.
The project would create an roughly 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.
In order to gain final approval, the Federal Highway Administration must also sign off on certain environmental aspects of the project. From there, the project would head into a final engineering design phase that’s expected to last from mid-2026 until the end of 2029. That phase would be followed by right-of-way acquisition.
Construction is not expected to begin until 2030 and would take about six years to complete.
