Harrisburg, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation advises motorists that there will be “rolling” traffic stoppages on Interstate 83 in the Colonial Park area of Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, starting at around midnight on Sunday, July 17, and continuing no later than 5 AM on Monday, July 18. The rolling traffic stoppages conducting by the Pennsylvania State Police should last no more than 15 minutes on each occurrence and are necessary so that construction crews can safely lift and remove steel bridge beams from the overhead Elmerton Avenue bridge. There are six bridge beams to be removed as part of the demolition of the existing bridge structure. Motorists are asked to be alert to this operation, to pay attention and obey work zone signs, and to slow down when approaching and traveling through the work area.
The Elmerton Avenue (State Route 3026) bridge over I-83 was closed on June 10 for demolition. It will be replaced with a new bridge that will provide a greater lateral under clearance to provide the width necessary to widen I-83 to six lanes. The new Elmerton Avenue bridge is scheduled to open to traffic in early November. The I-83 widening project is currently scheduled to start in late 2018 and finish in 2021.
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. 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.
