PennDOT is embarking on a long-term project to make major improvements along Interstate 83 in the Harrisburg area. This multi-phase project will have a major impact on motorists in the Capital region for the next several years.

Richard Reisinger, Design Chief of the project, shared an overview about the improvements planned for the I-83 Eisenhower interchange.

“Specific to the Eisenhower interchange, it will be a brand-new interchange constructed. That will include new connections to all the legs for traffic, so it will be connections to Interstate 283, 322 to the Hershey area, the main line of Interstate 83 along with local road connections in that vicinity, “said Reisinger.

According to John Bachman, Project manager, this will be a long-term, multi- phase project.

“Well, I guess we go back to the master plan that was done and started in 2001 and finished in 2003. We have East Shore Section 1, which is union deposit to 81. That's already through design and construction. Right now, we have in final design the Eisenhower interchange and also East Shore Section 3, which is down in the city of Harrisburg, and that piece there is under construction right now. Construction again, as we said, is kind of jump from Section 1 to Section 3. Until we get everything done, it's probably going to be around 2038 up at the Eisenhower, “said Bachman.

Bachman says they are working to keep the interstate flowing during the construction.

“So we're going to maintain the lanes we have out there now. That varies as you drive through the corridor from the Susquehanna River up to the Eisenhower interchange. There will be detours. As people are familiar with the Eisenhower, it is a multi -level interchange with ramps connecting, as Rich noted, between 83, 283, 322, and then you have the local streets”

However, Reisinger, believes these upgrades overall will improve safety and traffic flow once completed.

“Well, anyone who travels the corridor knows. There are several bottleneck areas where traffic queues and has heavy volumes and slows down, so the intention here is to, in basic terms, provide three lanes of travel, three through lanes of travel in each direction. Certain areas, there will be additional auxiliary lanes that will serve as ramp connections, so to make that improvement, to keep the traffic that really wants to flow through the area continuing to flow, not providing or not having those backups and queuing and a lot of lane change potential should help with safety greatly, along with, as we mentioned, that local road connection, so Paxton Street, Union Deposit, trying to clean up some of those connections and make the local road network also more user friendly, “said Reisinger.

Support WITF: https://www.witf.org/support/give-now/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.