Traffic lanes to shift near Balls Bend
Traffic lanes near the Route 8 and Park Road intersections on Route 228 in Middlesex will change beginning March 22 due to continued work on the Balls Bend Safety Improvement Project.
Contractor Independence Excavating will be resetting the barrier on the edge of Route 228 Eastbound and moving it to the shoulder against the existing white line from Park Road East toward Route 8.
The barrier will extend into the current turning lanes, leaving a dedicated left turn lane and a left/through/right turn lane in the eastbound direction. Westbound will remain one lane.
This work will facilitate the excavation, drainage and pavement to widen the current intersection to the south. The update may slow traffic in this area.
“Traffic won’t be stopped, but what will happen is they are going to have the barriers moved,” PennDOT spokeswoman Christina Gibbs said. “The lanes that exist now will look different after they change those. Typically, if they plan to stop traffic, they’ll tell me ahead of time, and they didn’t, so I’m assuming there won’t be any traffic disruptions as the barriers are moved.”
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation predicts that the $26.5 million safety improvement project will be completed in spring 2025.
“We are still on track with it,” Gibbs said. “Construction’s going to continue for a considerable length of time, but they are still on target with reaching that as the deadline.”
Gibbs added that as of yet, inflation and supply-chain issues have not stopped any planned PennDOT projects for 2022.
“Anything that is on the schedule is still planning to move forward, at least until further notice at this point,” she said.
