HARRISBURG, Pa.– The Elmerton Avenue bridge that crosses over Interstate 83 in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, closed this morning at 8 AM for a construction project to demolish the existing structure and replace it with new bridge. Elmerton Avenue is officially designated as State Route 3017, with a little more than 3,900 vehicles crossing the bridge on a daily basis. Traffic is officially detoured by way of Progress Avenue, Linglestown Road and Colonial Road. The traffic lanes on I-83 under the bridge will soon be shifted to the right in both directions in order to provide more room for the contractor to work in the median area. From time to time, there will also be traffic lane restrictions during the overnight hours. The new bridge is scheduled to open for traffic in early November.
The Elmerton Avenue bridge is part of an overall construction contract to replace three bridges that cross over I-83 in Lower Paxton Township. The other bridges include Union Deposit Road at I-83 Exit 48 and Route 22 at I-83 Exit 50. 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, Pennsylvania, to conduct the three bridge replacements at a cost of $34,199,999. The overall project is scheduled to wrap up in February 2019.
In addition to replacing the Elmerton Avenue bridge this year, work will begin later this year and continue into next year to replace the Union Deposit Road bridge. The bridge will remain open to traffic, with some lane restrictions, while demolition and construction takes place.
The Route 22 bridge will also be rebuilt with “staged construction” while remaining open to traffic. Though most of this work will be done next year, construction for new ramps on new alignments for the I-83 interchange with Route 22 will begin this year as well as some widening for the new bridge and construction of a new pier in the median.
The replacement of all three bridges and the widening of I-83 are made possible from revenue raised by Act 89, the transportation funding law enacted in November 2012.
SOURCE: PennDOT