MONTOURSVILLE – Construction is nearly complete on the Susquehanna River bridge that is part of the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway (CSVT) Project. Final details and cleanup are expected over the next few weeks, according to PennDOT’s Matt Beck.
He says most of the paving for the northern end of the project near Montandon to Ridge Road is complete, with work focused next year on Ridge Road to the river bridge in Northumberland County and then moving on to the planned new interchange with Route 15 in Snyder County.
“From the northern end of the project near Montandon south to Ridge Road. Next year, the work will focus on constructing those pavement layers from Ridge Road to the river bridge on the Northumberland County side and that work will also move to the south side of the river in the area of the planned new interchange with Route 15,” he said.
Beck says for the most part, work has gone smoothly, but the pandemic and reduced travel has had an impact on transportation revenues, “Transportation funding has had an issue recently because of more fuel efficient vehicles over time and a lack of increased federal transportation funding over the years, so that reduction in travel associated with the pandemic has just compounded that.”
Beck says they thought they were going to have to shut down some active projects late this year due to a funding shortfall, but the state was able to find a short term solution, “Looking ahead though, we are hopeful that there will be a longer term solution worked out early next year that will allow us to keep active projects moving forward without interruption and will also allow us to move forward with other new planned projects.”
Final paving and construction on the remaining sections of the northern tier are planned into 2022, and Beck says they expect that tier to be open to traffic at some point that year.
