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Overnight traffic stoppages scheduled for I-83 in Colonial Park area east of Harrisburg

HARRISBURG, Pa. –  PennDOT says it is time to set the bridge beams for the new bridge that will carry Elmerton Avenue over Interstate 83 in Lower Paxton T...
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HARRISBURG, Pa. –  PennDOT says it is time to set the bridge beams for the new bridge that will carry Elmerton Avenue over Interstate 83 in Lower Paxton Township. To accomplish this, the contractor for the project and the Pennsylvania State Police will be conducting rolling road blocks on I-83 to safely set each bridge beam and to move heavy equipment. Between midnight and 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, motorists should prepared to encounter stopped or very slow traffic in the vicinity of the Elmerton Avenue bridge. The bridge is located between I-83 Exit 50 for Route 22 in the Colonial Park area and I-83 Exit 51 for Interstate 81. The impact to traffic will occur each time a bridge beam is set in place and should not last more than 15 minutes on each occurrence.

There are eight new bridge beams to be set. The first four beams will be set over northbound I-83 on Wednesday morning. On Thursday morning, the stoppages and/or traffic slowdowns are necessary to move the “crawler crane” from the east side to the west side of bridge pier in the median. On Friday morning, the remaining four bridge beams will be set over southbound I-83.

Motorists are asked to be alert to this work, to pay attention to work zone signs, and to slow down when approaching and traveling through the construction work zones for their safety as well as for the safety of the construction crews.

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 should be completed and open to traffic by early November. Other construction work this year is in the area of the I-83 Exit 50 interchange with Route 22 and 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.

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