Work on the current phase of the North Atherton Street project is 90 percent completed and will wrap up for the year around Thanksgiving. Photo by Geoff Rushton/StateCollege.com

Drivers on North Atherton Street have no doubt noticed some positive changes in recent days, and the newly smooth road means relatively smooth sailing for the rest of this year and the majority of 2020.

Marc Maney, PennDOT inspector in charge of the project, said comparatively minor work remains before the project shuts down in November. It's scheduled to resume for two months next summer around the Curtin Road intersection.

"We’re happy to say we have the majority of the work completed now on the project," he said. "We have a smooth road out here that motorists can drive on, a safe road, We have some more work we have to complete this year but the worst is behind us with the delays we’ve been encountering through the summer."

The multi-year project has involved roadway work — drainage improvements, curbing, sidewalks, ADA ramps, traffic signal upgrades, new concrete median, and paving — but also relocation or installation of new utility lines. More than a dozen utility companies were involved with the project.

"One thing we tried to do was incorporate any utility upgrades we thought were necessary, talking with utility companies to do it all at one time rather than have the water authority come out and put a new line in this year, the sewer authority come out and do a sewer line next year and then with all the communication lines, have all those relocated," Maney said. "We compacted all that work into one schedule and were able to come in and do it in two years to get that completed, which otherwise would have taken a lot longer if we set up agreements to do everything separately."

Drivers have become well-accustomed to traffic delays on the stretch between Park Avenue and Aaron Drive over the past two years, and Maney said that PennDOT and the contractor — in this case, Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc. — try to inconvenience as few people as possible. But with a daily average of 40,000 vehicles traveling the road and the scope of the work, delays were inevitable.

"Unfortunately with road construction, there always is an inconvenience to pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists coming through the project," Maney said.

Work is expected to wrap up around Thanksgiving. Next year, the project will move to a work zone less than 500 feet long around the area of Curtin Road. That work is expected to take place between the end of Penn State's spring semester in May and before the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts in early July.

Part of that work will involve installation of underground steel utility casings across Atherton for future Penn State development. Maney said that is expected to be done around the weekend of May 15. State College Borough Council has already approved a noise ordinance waiver for that weekend to allow for 24-hour work. A detour will be in place during that time.

When PennDOT made the request, it said without the 24-hour work and detour the installation would take four weeks with lane closures.

Other work in May and June will include installation of drainage, curb, sidewalk, curb ramps, signal upgrades and paving.

But once that work is completed, Atherton Street isn't done seeing construction. The project will then move on to the stretch between Curtin Road and Westerly Parkway. That phase is tentatively expected to begin in 2021 and will likely take two years. Following that, a final phase will improve Westerly to around University Drive, near the CVS on South Atherton Street.

But for now, drivers can breathe a little easier when heading out on North Atherton Street.

"You’ll just see minimal work out here [the rest of this year]," Maney said. "You’ll see one lane closure, two lane closures at the most as we do the work, but nothing that’s going to adversely impact traffic like we’ve seen in the past."

White Out Weekend

With the White Out game between Penn State and Michigan on tap for Saturday night at Beaver Stadium, the area is expected to be even busier than it usually is during football season. Throughout the weekend, no additional lane closures will be in place and two lanes will remain open in each direction on North Atherton Street.

With more people in town and the game happening after dark, PennDOT spokeswoman Marla Fannin said the department wants to ensure pedestrians and drivers stay safe. She said that the five pedestrian crossings on North Atherton Street that were part of the project have all been completed and should be used as needed.

"Because of the game, because there’s going to be more pedestrian traffic, we just want to remind people to use those crossings as appropriate to be safe," Fannin said. "It’s also a night game, so obviously we don’t have daylight working with us. We just want people to be safe and enjoy themselves."

Those crossings are at Mitchell Avenue, Woodland Drive, Hillcrest Avenue, Arbor Way, Ridge Avenue and Park Avenue. Each is ADA compliant and has freshly painted markings. The Mitchell, Woodland, Arbor and Park crossings have pedestrian refuge islands and Hillcrest and Park are signalized.

For drivers coming into town from the east on 322 over Seven Mountains, Fannin said the westbound lanes near Arch Rock are now cleared of work and both are open. The project near Burnham, west of Lewistown, is also cleared.

The first slowdown drivers should encounter will be at the Potters Mills Gap project. While no extended traffic stops are planned, lane restrictions are in place in both directions until the project's completion in 2020.

Eastbound traffic now uses the new local access road east of Potters Mills for 1 mile before using a crossover to return to existing Route 322. Westbound traffic no longer uses the crossover and is now routed onto the new local access road east of the intersection of Routes 322 and 144. Both pattern changes are in place for the remainder of the project.

"To this point in the football season that project has not proven to be a real headache for drivers," Fannin said. "It’s certainly slow and depending on traffic volumes it’s going to take them longer."