By MIKE FAHER
JOHNSTOWN — It’s not a bypass, but it will have to do.
Work finally has begun on long-discussed traffic improvements throughout the Route 56 corridor in Johnstown’s Cambria City and West End neighborhoods.
The $3.1 million project, which will extend far into 2010, was planned by state officials in lieu of a West End bypass that was deemed too expensive.
“This is a spinoff of (the bypass project) to make some safety improvements in the corridor,” said Dave Sherman, an assistant construction engineer for PennDOT District 9.
The project’s initial phase, which began last week, includes drainage work and sidewalk improvements.
Some lane restrictions are expected, but disruptions will be minimized because crews are working between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m., officials said.
While work is expected to continue through the winter months, much of the project will be carried out next year. PennDOT officials have detailed a variety of planned upgrades:
n Addressing a sharp curve at Roosevelt Boulevard and Broad Street.
“It’s almost a 90-degree turn now, so we’ll just be flattening that,” Sherman said.
PennDOT officials initially had thought a U-Haul headquarters at that curve would have to relocate, but they since have changed their plans so that the business can stay.
n Making intersection improvements at several sites on Cambria City’s Broad Street, including better signal timing and redesigned curbs.
n Installing a new traffic signal at Broad Street and Sixth Avenue, easing hassles for drivers who are coming from or heading toward the Brownstown area.
n Also, contractors will undertake intersection upgrades in the West End at Broad Street and Fairfield Avenue, Fairfield and D Street and at Strayer Street and Laurel Avenue.
The project also involves significant utility relocation, officials have said.
HRI Inc. of State College is the primary contractor. Work is scheduled for completion in November 2010.
While the intersection and traffic-signal changes may improve safety, they will not do much to alleviate truck traffic and general congestion on Route 56 as it snakes through the West End neighborhood.
That’s why a bypass had been proposed.
But in 2004, citing a lack of available funding, PennDOT pulled the plug on 26 road projects statewide including the Route 56 bypass.
Intense lobbying by local leaders did not reverse that decision.
The bypass project had carried a cost ranging from $55 million to $105 million, depending on which route had been chosen.
“The price was just out of range,” Sherman said.
