Jan 28, 2016 3 min read

Drivers who travel Interstate 70 east of Washington will encounter yet another set of orange barrels later this year when preliminary work begins on a project to reconstruct five miles of the highway between the East Beau Street (Route 136) and Eighty Four/Route 519 interchanges.

A contract will be awarded in April on a project expected to cost about $100 million for a full-depth reconstruction of that five-mile stretch of interstate. The state Department of Transportation will present the final plans on the project during a meeting next month.

“This won’t be just milling off the old surface and replacing it, but a complete reconstruction,” said Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer for PennDOT. “We will be widening the stretch between East Beau to the south junction of Interstate 79 to six lanes while it will remain four lanes between the junction and Eighty Four.”

The contract calls for the section between East Beau and the junction to be rebuilt with concrete. There is an alternate in the bid for the reconstruction of the other section to be done either in all concrete or all bituminous, Faieta added.

The contract is expected to be awarded on April 21. Construction will start in late June or early July on temporary paving. Faieta said that the side of the highway where work is being done will be closed with traffic moved to the opposite side of the interstate. That work will start in 2017 with the project to be completed in 2019.

This project is the fourth being done on an almost 20-mile stretch between the north junction with Interstate 79 east to the Centerville/Monongahela interchange that is being reconstructed at Route 481. Work on that project started last year as did the almost $76 million project to rebuild the Ginger Hill/Bentleyville interchanges. The Bentleyville project also includes widening the highway and reconfiguring the acceleration and deceleration lanes.

The Centerville project is expected to be done in late 2017 while the Bentleyville completion date is December 2018.

Work began in September 2014 to construct a diverging diamond interchange at Murtland Avenue and Route 19 in South Strabane Township. In 2015, work was done to rebuild the eastbound lanes and the ramps to and from Route 19. Work will begin in the next few months on the westbound side of the highway. The $51 million project is slated to be done in November 2017.

PennDOT representatives will present the final design on the latest I-70 project on Feb. 10 at the South Strabane Township Volunteer Fire Department No. 2, 172 Oak Spring Road. The plans will be on display from 5 to 7 p.m. with a short presentation at 5:30 p.m. Project team members and PennDOT officials will be on-hand to answer questions.

The fire hall is accessible to individuals with disabilities. Anyone needing more information or special assistance can call Barry Lyons at 724-439-7336 or Troy Pitts at 724-415-2401 prior to the meeting.