Welcome to your source of information on the Route 22/322 Lewistown Narrows Project.

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Project Overview

The sun shines on the longest mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall in the United States and the second longest MSE wall in the world. The 2-mile long wall helps elevate the new westbound Route 22/322 Lewistown Narrows lanes and is one of several project walls.

The Route 22/322 Lewistown Narrows Project includes the second largest construction project ever awarded by PennDOT and the longest mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) wall in the United States. One of the more complex projects, the $142 million Narrows involved reconstruction of nearly 10 miles of Route 22/322 in Mifflin and Juniata counties, including two interchanges, as well as amenities for public recreation and education.

Background: About 20,000 vehicles per day currently travel through the Route 22/322 "Narrows." With few alternate routes and official detours of 30 to 60 miles (depending on vehicle weight), the roadway is important to keep open. It is a vital link both locally, between communities such as Mifflintown and Lewistown, and regionally between Harrisburg/Hershey and State College.

The old two-lane highway was a bottleneck, one of only two two-lane sections on the 100 mile corridor between the Hershey/Harrisburg and State College areas. The old, two-lane roadway had a significant crash history, with the Narrows once cited as one of the more dangerous roadways in the nation.

The new highway being completed is a modern, four-lane, limited access road that will link all the communities along the 100-mile long corridor and improve travel for everyone from vacationers to truckers. It will eliminate conditions that were a bane to drivers for decades.

Construction has gone on year ‘round to help expedite the project.


Here is a view of the talus slope.

 

The design:  Designing a highway to fit into the narrow Route 22/322 alignment between the Juniata River and the foot of Shade Mountain was a challenge further complicated by the talus rock slope of the mountain.

For many years, engineers studied the Narrows for a reasonable solution to its special challenges.  The final design elevated about three miles of the westbound lanes above the eastbound (a bifurcated roadway) to minimize excavation along the talus slope.  It included more than four miles of retaining walls, including a two-mile-long MSE wall, and more than 46 miles of remediation pipe piles.  There was extensive geotechnical work before and during design, including more than 40,000 linear feet of core drillings as well as seismic and ground penetrating radar investigation.  Stability monitoring of the slope continued even during construction.

Sections:  The project was done in three sections.  The Lewistown Interchange with Business Route 22 at the western end and the Arch Rock Interchange at the eastern end already are complete.  (See Section A10 and Section A11 pages.)  The third section (See Section A09 page) is the final link for a modern, four-lane highway between Milroy, east of State College, and Hershey/Harrisburg.

Traffic:  With the official detours at 30- to 60-miles-long, the highway simply could not be closed for reconstruction, and traffic was a special consideration.  During the highway construction, traffic was maintained one-lane in each direction, and construction traffic interruptions were limited to those which are necessary.  Special efforts were made to avoid construction-related delays during peak travel periods and event traffic, including Penn State home football games.

Motorists are advised of traffic restrictions through this Web site, releases to the news media, highway signing, and highway advisory radio (16.40 AM). 

 map

Public amenities:  The completed project will include a new Canal Park, a fishing/boating access area, along with a trail and overlook at the Pennsylvania Canal.   The canal house, built in 1860, has been saved as a future museum/visitor center, and as much of the canal as possible is being preserved, including the lock, prism and spillway.

Section A09:  The center section is the largest and last of the Narrows sections.  Section A09 got underway in early 2004 and will be complete in Spring 2008. It involves the construction of more than six miles of roadway through Mifflin and Juniata counties between the interchanges.  This was the second largest construction project ever bid by PennDOT at more than $104 million, with a final cost of $110 million.

(See the Section A09 page for more detailed information.)

Funding:  The Narrows project is 80 percent federally funded and 20 percent state funded through PennDOT.

ARC:  There were provisions for generation of construction jobs through Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) requirements for job posting and preferential employment from the region.

The project team

  • PennDOT
  • Maguire Group Inc., Pittsburgh – construction management
  • EADS Group, Inc. Altoona – principal designer
  • Erdman Anthony Associates, Inc. and GTS Technologies Inc. – design consulting

Project sections
 A10, the Arch Rock interchange in Juniata County, was built by Glenn O. Hawbaker, State College, at a cost of $12.9 million and was opened to traffic in fall 2003.  Section A11, the Route 22/322 Lewistown interchange with Business Route 22 in Mifflin County, was completed in 2005 at a cost of $19.1 million by Dick Corporation, Pittsburgh.   A09 is being completed at a cost of $110 million by Walsh Construction, Pittsburgh, and will be open to traffic by the end of 2007.

To learn more about individual construction sections, click on a colored section of the map or choose a section (A11, AO9 or A10) from the navigation bar at the top of this page or the section pages.  

 

Copyright 2007 Maguire Group