Construction Equipment Guide
470 Maryland Drive
Fort Washington, PA 19034
800-523-2200
Wed January 31, 2001 - Northeast Edition
It’s taken years to get it on the road but construction of a “missing link” highway in Armstrong County, PA, is at long last under way.
“Not only that, but it’s the biggest project ever let in PennDOT’s District l0,” said Jim Struzzi, community relations coordinator, PennDOT District l0.
When completed at the end of 200l, the 2.2 mi. (3.5 km) A-l5 Kittanning Bypass will allow access to U.S. Route 422 from Manor Township by connecting it with State Route 85 and the State Route 66/28 intersection in nearby Rayburn Township. But it has been a long haul indeed to get it going.
History of the Project
The Kittanning Bypass was originally envisioned as part of the Allegheny Valley Expressway (first mooted over fifty years ago) but unfortunately it did not get constructed.
About 16 years ago, State Rep. Henry Livengood set up a committee to make certain that the bypass was added to the l2-Year Program under PennDOT. The program covers highway construction to be carried out within the Southwest Planning Commission’s western Pennsylvania region and allows for input from the general public to help PennDOT determine what work is needed. (The Southwest Planning Commission is not part of PennDOT but rather an MPO or Metropolitan Planning Organization). It was not until the end of l997, however, after a number of hearings and meetings that the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) granted environmental clearance for the job. Two years later, the final design had been completed by PennDOT, who planned it in-house, with assistance from, and consultation with, a Community Advisory Committee (CAC). Set up by the Department in January l998 to obtain local input, CAC members include representatives of emergency services, local businesses and government, state, county and municipal officials as well as area residents. McCormick Taylor, a public involvement specialist company based in Pittsburgh, PA, acts as the link between PennDOT and the CAC through maintaining the project’s Web site at http://www.a15project.com/CAC.html and sending out newsletters. The CAC, which continues to provide input, set a precedent for public involvement that has been so successful that District l0 intends to set them up for other projects.
About the Project
The Kittanning Bypass project was let on Dec. 3l l999, honoring Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge’s pledge that it would be under way by 2000. As U.S. Route 422 originally stopped short at the base of a hill in Manor Township, Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State Bradley Mallory carried out the project’s official groundbreaking by driving a front-end loader and ceremonially scooping out a load of earth from the hill. Actual construction began in March 2000.
With an expected completion date of December 200l, the long-awaited bypass will be a limited access, four-lane highway that will separate local and pass-through traffic and in the process relieve congestion as well as providing safer driving conditions, especially for trucks on the steeply graded Indiana Pike Hill situated in Manor Township. That particular stretch of highway is used by almost 22,000 vehicles on an average day.
Construction to Date
The job is on schedule and is being carried out in three phases. The first two began in spring and fall 2000 respectively, with the third slated to begin in spring 200l.
Phase I involved site preparation work for a new interchange with Route 422, including the building of a temporary road to take Route 422 traffic around the construction area, permitting drivers to avoid detours. An existing interchange on Route 422 will be relocated eastwards.
Preparatory work during Phase I also covered that necessary for reconfiguring and improving a couple of local roads and the construction of two new ones. One of the new roads was designed to improve the alignment of the northern and southern parts of Indiana Pike and the other will provide a relocated point of access from a private road to Route 28/66.
Phase II of the project covers construction of a bridge over Route 422, another temporary road and the Route 85 intersection, while Phase III sees construction of the stretch of highway connecting the bypass with Route 28/85.
“The major work for the 2000 construction season,” said Dan Bell, project director for prime contractor Dick Corporation of Pittsburgh, PA, “was to excavate over 3.7 million cu. yds of earth and rock. Excavation work started in May 2000 and was completed by the end of November by working two ten-hour shifts, six days a week.”
Caterpillar equipment owned by Dick Corporation that was used for the massive job included D8 and D9 bulldozers, a l6H grader and a 330 excavator. Large excavation equipment (992G, 777Ds and 773) was leased from Beckwith Machinery. Other Pittsburgh area equipment rental companies Dick Corporation used during this phase provided backhoes (Anderson Equipment) and cranes (Maxim Cranes). In addition, miscellaneous support equipment including water, fuel and grease trucks were leased from One Call Rentals.
Project specification called for measures to alleviate the loss of approximately 4 acres of wetlands, 57.4 acres of deciduous forest and about l,800 ft. of trout stream. Dick Corporation also handled the wetlands and stream enhancement work, completing them in November 2000.
Michael Baker Jr. Inc of Coraopolis, PA, designed and planned these environmental mitigation efforts, which make a “green way” connecting a pair of isolated woodland areas as well as providing for the enhancement and preservation of existing wetlands and the creation of 6.6 acres more to augment those lost to the bypass project. Plantings of trees and shrubs along approximately 6 acres of reclaimed land next to the wetlands will benefit local and migrating wildlife as well as beautifying the area. Dick Corporation used its Caterpillar 345 excavator and rented Beckwith 35-ton articulated trucks to carry out the wetland work.