For Nov. 1 --Road Watch Col.
Motorists traveling on the Blue Route (I-476) in Montgomery County will encounter nighttime lane restrictions this week starting tonight for continuing construction to prepare 3.2 miles of the highway for reconstruction next year, PennDOT said.
Northbound and southbound lane closures on I-476 will be in place tonight through Thursday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. from just south of the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76), Exit 16 Interchange, in West Conshohocken to the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Mid-County Interchange in Plymouth Township.
Tonight through Thursday, the left lane will be closed on I-476 North/South.
Tonight through Thursday, the two left lanes on I-476 North will be closed 11 p.m.-5 a.m.
PennDOT said the lane closures will be in place to allow crews to rebuild the highway’s shoulders and construct cross-over lanes in the grass median in preparation for implementing a traffic pattern shift early next year when reconstruction of the southbound side of I-476 begins.
The work is the initial stage of a $71.7 million project to replace the Blue Route’s deteriorated concrete pavement, rehabilitate six dual mainline bridges and one overhead structure, rebuild and widen the highway’s shoulders, improve storm water drainage, remediate an area prone to sinkholes and install 17 new sign structures.
Crews will work through late 2011 to rebuild this portion of I-476 that was built in the 1970s.
Daylight Saving Time Ends
Daylight Saving Time in most of the United States ends at 2 a.m., local time, today, the first day of November so make sure you set your clocks back one hour. With the darkness falling on local roadways much earlier, it’s important that motorists adjust their driving accordingly, especially with the glare of the setting sun and the need to be aware of pedestrians, especially children, crossing hazardous intersections.
Contrary to popular belief, no federal rule mandates that U.S. states or territories observe daylight saving time, according to National Geographic.
Most U.S. residents set their clocks one hour forward in spring and one hour back in fall. But people in Hawaii and most of Arizon along with the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, and the Virgin Islands—will do nothing. Those locales never deviate from standard time within their particular time zones.
The federal law first passed in 1918 and, thanks to a 2005 revision that went into practice in 2007, now stipulates areas that observe daylight saving time must switch back to standard time at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday in November.
The new Daylight Saving Time rule requires that regions that observe daylight saving time begin at the same time on the second Sunday in March.
Brookhaven Signals
Construction will begin Monday on a $203,158 municipal project to improve traffic signals in Brookhaven. The work will be done 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays.
The project is financed with federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
BULLET Monday – lane restrictions are scheduled at the intersection of Bridgewater and West Brookhaven roads.
BULLET Tuesday – lane restrictions are scheduled at the intersection of Edgmont Avenue (Route 352) and Duttons Mill Road.
BULLET Wednesday –lane restrictions are scheduled at the intersection of Route 352 and Coebourn Boulevard.
BULLET Thursday – lane restrictions are scheduled at the intersection of Route 352 and Brookhaven Road.
BULLET Friday – lane restrictions are scheduled at the intersection of Route 352 and Trimble Boulevard.
Crews will improve traffic signals and pedestrian signals and signs in the borough.
Under the borough-designed project, workers will replace incandescent bulbs with light-emitting diode (LED) modules to enhance the visibility of the signals, plus provide a longer service life and use less energy than the incandescent bulbs.
New pedestrian countdown timers and push button controls will also be installed to enhance pedestrian safety.
The borough funded the engineering design phase of the improvement project.
Hog Island Road Lighting
PECO Energy Co. has completed the first phase of a multi-year project to replace one-quarter of the street lights along Hog Island Road in Tinicum. The loop located east of Route 291 serves Philadelphia International Airport, the U.S. Postal Service Center, the Army National Guard post and several industrial customers.
About 20 street lights are being replaced each year.
Groundwater and moisture has caused damage to underground electric lines in the area and above-ground electric lines were not desirable in the area due to air traffic. The Hog Island area is made up mostly of marshes and meadows.
PECO recently completed about one mile of the underground work, using a combination of its electric and gas crews for the job. Another stretch will be replaced next year.
PECO and local officials discussed the project in recent months with particular concern for public safety, especially with local traffic. PECO said the conditions of the local area altered its typical engineering approach to the facility upgrades.
The new underground conduit will ensure electric lines are not affected by the constant exposure to moisture. Underground facilities tend to be less vulnerable to most weather conditions, such as wind and lightning, and other factors, including vehicle accidents.
However, when outages occur, it tends to take longer to identify and repair problems and is much more costly, PECO said.
Route 202 North Bridge
Gov. Ed Rendell Saturday morning joined local officials in opening the new $8.4 million DeKalb Street (Route 202 North) Bridge in Bridgeport Borough, Montgomery County, which spans the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.
Traffic Delays
Upland – Brookhaven Road, ADA ramp construction with lane restrictions between Trimble Boulevard and Bridgewater Road 7 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays.
Tinicum and Chester – Fourth Avenue, ADA ramp construction between Second Street and Governor Printz Boulevard 7 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays.
Also, Second Street, ADA ramp construction at Madison Street in Chester, 7 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays.
Chester – Kerlin Street, ADA ramp construction between 10th and 14th streets, 7 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays.
Middletown – U.S. Route 1 South, overhead line work between Elwyn Road and Valleybrook Road 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays through Friday.
Also, Lungren Road, SEPTA utility installation between Lenni Road and Parkmount Road 7 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays through Friday.
Norwood – Chester Pike, PECO Energy installation between Ridley and Garfield avenues 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays through Wednesday.
Baltimore Pike (Route 1) – Middletown and Chester Heights, bridge replacement between Darlington Road and Station Road, 24-hour restrictions through June 2011. Work began Oct. 12. Cost is $4.27 million; contractor is J.D. Eckman Inc.
Upper Chichester -- Naamans Creek Road (Route 491), utility installation by the Southern Delaware County Sewer Authority, closed/detoured between Meetinghouse and Larkin roads, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. through Nov. 24. Work began Sept. 28. Detour posted.
Naamans Creek Road – Chadds Ford, utility installation between U.S. Route 202 and I-95, 9 a.m.-3 p.m weekdays through Nov. 13. Work began Oct. 12.
Baltimore Pike (Route 1) – Middletown, Aqua Pa. utility installation between Black Horse Lane and Valley Road 8 p.m.-6 a.m. weekdays through Nov. 30.
Baltimore Avenue – Lansdowne, East Lansdowne, Upper Darby, Aqua Pennsylvania utility installation, closed/detoured between Church Lane and Lansdowne Avenue, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., detour posted weekdays through Nov. 30.
Chester — Flower Street, ramp construction with a new traffic pattern at Fourth and Second streets, 24-hour restriction through 2011. Work began Jan. 12.
Also, Norris Street, ramp construction with lane restrictions at Front Street and Delaware Avenue, 24-hour restriction through 2011. Work began Jan. 12.
“Road Watch” appears Sundays. Only messages and mail with phone numbers will be considered. E-mail: jroman@delcotimes.com.