HARRISBURG, Pa. – For decades, motorists on westbound Route 22 headed to southbound Interstate 83 in the Colonial Park area of Lower Paxton Township in Dauphin County have followed a familiar pattern in the I-83 Exit 50 interchange — they have simply shifted to the right as they’ve crossed on the bridge over I-83 to take the ramp that loops to the right and down under the bridge to merge onto southbound I-83.
Starting Monday night, August 8, that traffic movement will completely change. The existing ramp on the north side of Route 22 will be closed and a new ramp on the south side of Route 22 will be opened to traffic. Instead of shifting to the right, motorists on westbound Route 22 headed to southbound I-83 will be directed to an exclusive turning lane on the left, where a traffic signal will control the movement of traffic to southbound I-83.
This new traffic pattern will likely remain in place until the end of next year. In addition, motorists from eastbound Route 22 headed to southbound I-83 will no longer have a free flowing condition. Instead, a Stop sign will stop motorists before entering the main ramp to southbound I-83.
These traffic pattern changes are necessary so that construction crews have room on the north side of Route 22 to safely build a drainage basin in the infield of the existing ramp as part of the work for constructing and widening of a new Route 22 bridge structure over I-83. Route 22 will continue to have two thru-lanes for both eastbound and westbound traffic through the interchange.
This work is part of an overall construction contract to replace three bridges – Elmerton Avenue, Route 22 and Union Deposit Road — that cross over I-83 in Lower Paxton Township. The Elmerton Avenue bridge has already been demolished. Construction work this year in the area of the I-83 Exit 50 interchange with Route 22 deals with reconfiguring ramps and building portions of the new bridge that will eventually replace the existing Route 22 bridge over I-83.
All three new bridges will be built to provide a greater lateral under clearance to provide the width necessary to widen I-83 to six lanes. The I-83 widening project is currently scheduled to start in late 2018 and finish in 2021.
PennDOT has contracted with New Enterprise Stone & Lime Company, Inc. of New Enterprise, Bedford County, to conduct the three bridge replacements at a cost of $34,199,999. The overall project with the three bridges is scheduled to wrap up in February 2019.