Drilling work on Route 22/Route 60 in Robinson Township will begin Monday, Feb. 17, weather permitting and continue through late this month between Park Manor Drive and the off-ramp to Montour Church Road/Old Steubenville Pike.
PennDOT District 11 said the work will result in single-lane restrictions in both directions of Route 22/Route 60 (Steubenville Pike) from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.
Crews also will conduct drilling work off the roadway at the West Route 22/Route 30/Weirton (Exit 60A) and Route 60 South/Crafton (Exit 60B) interchanges.
Nicole Haney, a PennDOT spokeswoman, said crews will be gathering core samples of pavement as well as soil off the roadway or shoulder as part of the Route 22/I-376 Interchange project, which has been in the works for several years and at one time was expected to be under construction by now.
The samples obtained starting this week will be used to help with the final pavement design, Haney said.
At a public meeting held in 2023, PennDOT officials anticipated construction contracts being awarded in the spring or summer of 2024 and construction on the redesigned interchange to start in the summer or fall of 2024, with a total project cost of $30-$35 million.
The actual interchange project is anticipated to go to bid in late fall with construction beginning in 2026. Officials originally said it would take about two years to complete the work.
According to PennDOT, the Route 22/I-376 Interchange project will improve ramp connections for I-376 to Route 22/30/60 to improve safety and traffic flow as part of a new diverging diamond interchange (DDI).
The new configuration, which brings traffic to the left side of the road at signalized intersections and then returns it to the right side, eliminates the need for left-turning vehicles to cross the paths of approaching through-vehicles, state transportation officials say.
The project will include the replacement of the Route 22/30 bridge structure that currently crosses I-376 with new dual structures, one on each side of the existing structure. The proposed structures will be lengthened to accommodate any future widening of I-376 in both directions.
Those two new structures, each 171 feet long, will allow for the removal of the existing partial cloverleaf loop ramps and provide access to all points of interest, including to Route 60 southbound toward Crafton, which is currently unavailable with the existing interchange.
The new structures also will increase the vertical clearance to a height of 16 feet, 6 inches over I-376. The current bridge across I-376 currently has a clearance of only 15-1.
PennDOT officials in 2023 characterized the existing bridge over I-376 as substandard in terms of its clearances. In addition, the current setup results in congestion; specifically, the I-376 westbound ramp and Park Manor Drive are congested during at least one peak period of the day.
PennDOT officials said at the 2023 meeting that many crashes also have occurred in that vicinity due to traffic being backed up to I-376 and at the westbound Route 22 off-ramp.
Diverging diamond interchanges are relatively new in the U.S., with the first one constructed in Springfield, Mo., in 2009. There, total crashes were reduced by 46 percent after the first year in operation, according to the Federal Highway Administration.
Diverging diamond interchanges are becoming more common in Pennsylvania. Currently one exists in Washington County at the I-70/Route 19 interchange and another is being built in Westmoreland County at the I-70/Route 51 interchange near Cedarbrook Golf Course.
The project in Robinson would be the first in PennDOT’s District 11 to feature the diverging diamond interchange. District 11 includes Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties.
The new bridges that are part of the project will contain three 12-foot travel lanes, a 10-foot left shoulder and a four-foot right shoulder. The eastbound bridge will have two through lanes with a dedicated left ramp to westbound I-376. The westbound bridge will have two through lanes and a combined through lane/ramp lane to eastbound I-376.
Officials said in 2023 that the project will be completed in four phases, which they said should help minimize impacts to current motorists because they’ll be able to continue using the existing configuration while the new bridges and ramps are being built.
However, some stoppages and closures will occur at various points along the project. A proposed detour that would take motorists on I-79, Route 60, Beaver Grade Road and Montour Run Road will be needed while the new bridge beams are set and when the old bridge is removed.
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