Crews perform boulder removal and slope stabilization prior to excavation in PMG narrow.
A Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) project involving the realignment of Route 322 is nearing completion near the village of Potters Mills.
A ribbon-cutting was held on Nov. 9, 2020.
"It is with tremendous pride and pleasure that we are able to celebrate the opening of the new
Route 322 alignment," said PennDOT Executive Deputy Secretary George McAuley. "This project allows for more efficient travel through the area and elevates driver safety along the highway."
All four lanes of the new Route 322 alignment have reportedly been open since mid-October, with completion work along the local access road (State Route 2015) scheduled for 2021.
The project began on April 30, 2018 and is scheduled for completion by Oct. 7, 2021.
The contract is valued at $82,374,064, with 100 percent of the funding coming from PennDOT.
The prime contractor is Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. of State College, Pa., with John Wert as project manager and Dave Myers as project general superintendent.
The project featured three phases beginning in 2015. Phase One involved a new bridge at Sand Mountain Road. Phase Two created a new interchange on Route 322 at Sand Mountain Road and Phase Three involves the reconstruction of Route 322 from Sand Mountain Road to Potters Mills, including a new Route 322/Route 144 intersection.
PennDOT reported that the completed project is expected to alleviate congestion and allow traffic to move more safely and efficiently from the Centre/Mifflin County line to Potters Mills.
In total, the project reportedly cost $96 million. Jay Fulkroad & Sons Inc. of McAlisterville was the contractor for Phase One. Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc. of State College has been the contractor on Phase Two and Phase Three.
The construction team reportedly encountered many obstacles over the past three construction seasons, including working through two winter seasons, utility delays, unstable slopes and COVID-19.
"This project is a new alignment for SR 0322 in Potter Township and will include approximately six miles of earthwork and structures," said John Wert, project manager of Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. "Construction involves bridge structures, retaining walls, sign structures, and DMS structures along with paving, guide rail, drainage, interchange work, landscaping, environmental mitigation."
He reported that the challenges are the aggressive schedule for the project and maintaining traffic following a narrow steel cliff along the road.
The size of the project and the large MSE wall makes it unique to others.
Three large retaining walls run parallel with the roads. A portion of the walls were cast-in-place concrete sections with the remaining being MSE walls. One of the complexities of the MSE retaining walls are the stepped footers that run for several thousand feet. Getting the excavation complete, pouring the stepped footers and alignment exact were critical in making sure that the MSE panels fit together correctly on the wall. The surveyors laid out the walls and the and our bridge crew was diligent in checking grade when constructing the walls.
Major subcontractors include A.M. Logging LLC, for clearing and grubbing, Abel Recon for UV cured pipe lining, Bruce & Merrilees for electrical (lighting, DMS board and traffic cameras, Green Acres for guide rail, overhead sign structure and traffic signs, Interstate Safety Services for temporary and permanent barrier, Jilco for painting the structure, JPH for landscaping, seeding and erosion and sediment control, Kevin E. Raker for rebar installation, Rae-Lyn for traffic control, Ram Construction Service for waterproofing membrane and high friction overlay,
Shelly Foundations for predrilling for piles, Wagman for soil nails, slope stabilization and temporary shoring, Wampum for rock blasting and Williams & Willman Line Painting for line painting.
Major equipment used on the job includes a Cat 336 excavator, a Cat 345 excavator, a Cat 328 excavator, a Cat 745 rock truck, a Case 580 backhoe, a Case 350 excavator, a Cat 14M grader, a Link-Belt RTC 8050, a Link-Belt 218 HLS, a Link-Belt LS-138H, a Cat D8 dozer with GPS, a Cat D6K dozer with GPS, a Bomag roller, a Cat 815 roller, a Cat AP 1000, a Roadtec 2500 shuttlebug and a Cat CB64 paving roller.
Earth work for the job included 1,100,000 cu. yds. of excavation. Other quantities are 685,000 cu. yds. of embankment, 500,000 tons of stone, 175,000 tons of asphalt, 35,000 linear ft. of storm pipe, 250 inlets and 13,000 cu. yds. of channel excavation.
The structure portion includes five bridges with 5,580 linear ft. of concrete beams, five MSE walls, 2,200 precast panels, 120,000 tons of MSE wall backfill, three soil nail walls, 1,900 nails and 15,000 cu. yds. of concrete. CEG
Brenda Ruggiero
Brenda Ruggiero has written for CEG for over 20 years. She lives near the town of Accident in far western Maryland. Her favorite assignments so far involved interviews with Survivor’s Boston Rob and hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut. Both were involved in construction at one time.
Brenda holds a BA in Mass Communication with a writing focus from Frostburg State University and minors in Public Relations and Political Science. She works full time as a staff writer for a weekly newspaper, the Garrett County Republican. She enjoys feature writing the most, which gives her the opportunity to talk to people and share their stories.
Brenda and her middle school sweetheart, Reuben, have been married for over 34 years and have three grown children and four cats.
Read more from Brenda Ruggiero here.
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