Crews form roadway shoulders.

PennDOT District 2-0 announced the beginning of construction of the Bradford Bypass Extension on Route 219 in July 2002. The $7,015,578 construction contract for the roadway was awarded to Bob Cummins Construction Company, Songbird Road, Bradford, Pa., in a joint venture with A&L, Inc., Belle Vernon, Pa.

The roadway was opened to traffic in October 2003.

The one-mile long construction project relocated the highway that links the four-lane Bradford Bypass and the two-lane Route 219 to the south. It was constructed from about .4 mile north of the Minard Road intersection to about .4 mile north of the Owens Way intersection.

Construction included a new, concrete box-beam bridge over Owens Way, drainage, landscaping, signing, guide rail, utility relocations and wetland mitigation. A box culvert underpass was installed to provide access for pedestrian and bicycle trail use.

After the October opening, PennDOT made some immediate enhancements to aid traffic flow:

§         Placement of rumble strips and crosshatched markings in the gore area between the north and southbound lanes of Route 219 north of the new bridge over Owens Way, and

§         Placement of a message board to alert northbound Route 219 traffic to keep to the right as traffic crosses the bridge.

In January 2004, PennDOT installed a new, specially-fabricated, overhead sign directing motorists on northbound Route 219 to the Owens Way exit.

Copyright 2007 Maguire Group