The Shapiro Administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, District 5, which covers Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton counties, detailed progress the highway department has made in 2025 as part of a commonwealth-wide commitment to improve and\/or rehabilitate roads in the state.<\/p>\n
Included in the detailed report of projects completed and\/or underway in the district are 15 local projects, seven of which have been completed.<\/p>\n
PennDOT announced there were 87 active construction projects in its district this year, 39 of which were completed. The work included replacing or repairing 133 bridges and paving over 100 roadway miles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great year for road and bridge projects, including a major I-78 project in Berks County,\u201d said District 5 District Executive Chris Kufro said. \u201cPennDOT will continue to work with regional planning partners to prioritize projects to improve safety and mobility in east central Pennsylvania.\u201d<\/p>\n
The I-78 project, the district\u2019s largest job completed this year in terms of contract amount, was an interstate improvement project in Hamburg Borough and Tilden Township in nearby Berks County.<\/p>\n
Work on the $134.6 million project included the reconfiguration and reconstruction of the Interstate 78\/Route 61 interchange ramps, widening and rehabilitation of the I-78 mainline arch bridge over the Schuylkill River, widening of the I-78 bridge over Port Clinton Avenue, replacement of the Route 61 bridge over I-78, construction of retaining walls, sound barriers, sign structures, highway lighting, ITS devices, drainage system improvements, guide rail, and safety barriers.<\/p>\n
Continuing projects<\/p>\n
District 5 notable projects that are continuing this year include:<\/p>\n
Carbon County<\/p>\n
\u2022\tReplacement of the I-80 bridge over the Lehigh River, Lehigh Gorge State Park, Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad and River Road in East Side Borough, $120 million;<\/p>\n
\u2022 Repairs to a retaining wall along Route 209 in Jim Thorpe Borough and Mahoning Township, $8.47 million.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rehabilitation of a retaining wall along Hudsondale Street and Hazel Creek, drainage upgrades, guiderail upgrades, and barrier upgrades in Weatherly Borough, $2.8 million.<\/p>\n
Monroe County<\/p>\n
\u2022 Replacement of the Business Route 209 bridge over Kettle Creek in Hamilton Township, $2.7 million.<\/p>\n
Schuylkill County<\/p>\n
\u2022 Reconstruction and safety improvements on Route 61 in Frackville and St. Clair boroughs, Blythe, New Castle, Ryan and West Mahanoy townships, $115 million.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Replacement of the Lincoln Drive bridge over Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad in Rush Township, $2.9 million.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Replacement of the Brockton Mountain Drive bridge over Locust Creek in Ryan Township, $1.38 million.<\/p>\n
Completed projects<\/p>\n
Notable projects that were completed or are substantially completed this year in the district include:<\/p>\n
Carbon County<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rehabilitation of the Route 209\/East Patterson Street Bridge over the Lehigh Canal and abandoned Northern Reading Railroad in Summit Hill Side Borough, $1.4 million.<\/p>\n
Monroe County<\/p>\n
\u2022 Route 209\/Hamilton West milling, paving, and bridge repairs in Hamilton Township, $11 million.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Replacement of the Route 209\/Route 33 North Bridge over Appenzell Creek in Hamilton Township, $10.2 million.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Safety improvements on Route 115 in Chestnuthill Township, $5.6 million.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Milling and paving Route 209 in Hamilton Township, $3.3 million.<\/p>\n
Schuylkill County<\/p>\n
\u2022 Milling and paving Route 54 in Mahanoy, Rush and Ryan townships, $2.7 million.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Milling and paving Route 54 in Rush Township, $2.6 million.<\/p>\n
Multiple counties<\/p>\n
\u2022 Rehabilitation of the Route 873 Bridge over Lehigh River in Washington Township, Lehigh County, and Lehigh Township, Northampton County, estimated $6.9 million.<\/p>\n
Work on the Brockton Mountain Drive bridge was recently completed and the road has reopened. JILL WHALEN\/TIMES NEWS<\/p>\n
The Route 873 Bridge over Lehigh River in Washington Township, Lehigh County, and Lehigh Township has reopened. PATRICIA INGLES\/SPECIAL TO THE TIMES NEWS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Shapiro Administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, District 5, which covers Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":{"0":"post-49433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}