422 West Ramp Opening At Armand Hammer
POTTSTOWN PA – There’s a surprise gift waiting to be delivered Tuesday morning (Sept. 22, 2015) to westbound drivers on U.S. Route 422, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said.
PennDOT announced late Monday (Sept. 21) that its 422 reconstruction contractor, J.D. Eckman Inc., would finish its work a week ahead of schedule on the new Yost Road on-ramp for 422 West from Armand Hammer Boulevard. Eckman employees will work overnight Monday from 9 p.m. to Tuesday at 10 a.m. so the ramp can open to traffic.
The eastbound on- and off-ramps at the Armand Hammer interchange, which straddles portions of Lower Pottsgrove and North Coventry townships, have been open for many weeks. The westbound on-ramp there was not due to open until the last week of this month.
During the overnight effort, Eckman crews will remove concrete barriers and paint new traffic lines on the ramp, PennDOT’s Charles Metzger reported.
The new ramp is part of the $73.3 million project to rebuild 1.6 miles of 422 between its Sanatoga and Route 724 (Schuylkill Road) interchanges, and construct new bridges over the Schuylkill River and Norfolk Southern railroad tracks. Construction on the entire project is scheduled to finish in October 2018.
On a phased timeline, PennDOT is:
- Building the new 422 structures over the Schuylkill River;
- Building new 422 structures over Norfolk South Railroad tracks;
- Rebuilding 422 from the Schuylkill River bridge to the Porter Road overpass;
- Replacing the Armand Hammer Boulevard bridge over 422;
- Improving and realigning ramps at the Armand Hammer interchange;
- Reconstructing and realigning the ramp from Route 724 to 422 east;
- Installing new median barriers;
- Improving storm water drainage;
- Erecting three overhead sign structures;
- Installing conduit for future Intelligent Transportation equipment; and
- Installing new guide rail and signs.
Eckman, based in Atglen PA, is the general contractor on the project financed with 80 percent federal and 20 percent state funds.
Post composite photo using Google Images
