Jun 30, 2015 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – Motorists who travel Route 19/21 where crews have been working for the last year-and-a-half to replace a bridge and railroad overpass in Morrisville will have to wait a little longer for the project to be completed.

Construction is behind schedule about a year as the project, which began in 2013, is now not expected to be completed until fall 2017.

The work entails replacing the overpass that carries the Norfolk Southern rail line over the now two-lane highway and the adjacent two-lane bridge carrying traffic over Ten Mile Creek with four-lane structures.

The project is roughly 40 percent completed, said Justin Simkovic, the project manager for the state Department of Transportation.

The $15.1 million project was originally scheduled to be finished in fall 2016. However, delays caused primarily by utility relocations have pushed the completion date back about a year, Simkovic said.

“Beside the delay, which unfortunately was out of our control, everything has been going smoothly,” Simkovic said. “Hopefully, everything will stay on schedule.”

The contractor, Gulisek Construction LLC of Mt. Pleasant, is now building part of the new railroad overpass on the west side of the existing overpass. PennDOT was required to maintain rail service during construction.

The abutments for the overpass have been constructed and the contractor is now building up the area behind the abutments with earthen fill to prepare the area on which new tracks will be laid.

The bridge beams that will span the area between the abutments are scheduled to be delivered Aug. 10, Simkovic said.

Once that part of the railroad overpass is completed and trains can use the new tracks, the existing overpass will be removed and the road realigned to route traffic onto the new section of the bridge built earlier over Ten Mile Creek.

The existing bridge will then be demolished to make way for the construction of the second section of the bridge, Simkovic said.

The second phase of the project will then get underway, which will include completing the railroad overpass to allow trains to use the original alignment and constructing the second part of the bridge over Ten Mile Creek.

PennDOT has maintained two-lane traffic through the construction zone without any major delays, though there have been instances when traffic is stopped for construction equipment.

The project is part of a plan to help alleviate traffic bottlenecks in the Morrisville corridor. It also originally included widening the remaining section of Route 19/21 to four lanes in Morrisville between Sugar Run Road and the Route 19/21 split to the east. However, several years ago the project was divided into two phases because of funding constraints.

The replacement of the bridge and overpass is expected to help address some of the traffic problems by giving eastbound traffic turning right onto Sugar Run Road a dedicated turning lane.

It also will address what is considered the biggest hurdle in the overall Morrisville project, the replacement of the old bridge and overpass.