File photo. PennDOT discusses the Duke Street project with the public, at a June meeting.
NORTHUMBERLAND — Detours begin, all businesses accessible, and trucks banned…those are the bullet points of Friday’s PennDOT statement on road work in Northumberland. The department said the Duke Street, Route 147, detours start Monday in Northumberland.
PennDOT’s $13.7 project continues with work on the road between Seventh and Eighth Streets. At a June public meeting, PennDOT’s T. Jay Cunningham said the construction work will be done in phases to improve traffic flow says Cunningham, “The only place that will be closed is the couple of blocks that we will be working on at any given time. For instance phase one of Duke Street up by 8th Street, we’re going to shut down 2 to 3 blocks, it’ll be closed but you’ll be able to get up to those 2 or 3 blocks from both directions.”
All businesses will be open and accessible, “It was very difficult. We coordinated quite a bit with the borough, local officials, and businesses. We firstly met with all the businesses on Duke Street to understand their needs. We purposely chose the phasing very specifically so that we could maintain access to businesses during the project.”
There are 13 total phases in this 3 year reconstruction project. The project includes curb to curb reconstruction on Duke, Water, and King Street. The project focuses on improving the flow of traffic through major intersections with longer turning lanes and a larger turn radius.
Monday’s two week detour will direct northbound traffic onto Fourth Street, King Street and Thirteenth Street. Southbound traffic will use Eighth Street, Queen Street and Sixth Street. PennDOT says a truck detour remains in effect and violators will be ticketed. All local businesses will remain open and accessible, according to a statement from PennDOT. More info: www.penndot.gov/dukestreet.
The project should be completed by June of 2020; PennDOT will hold an annual meeting to address the construction being done that year. (Sarah Benek)
Here is the time frame identified by PennDOT:
JULY to OCTOBER
- Implement phases 1-3 detour
- Reconstruct northern section of Duke Street, 8th Street to 4th Street
- UGI complete work on Duke Street
- Aerial utility work on Duke Street (Verizon, PPL, others)
- Aerial and underground utility work on Front Street
WINTER 2017-18
- No detour through town; truck detour still in effect
- Sidewalks, curbs, other miscellaneous work
- Utilities will continue work on Duke, Water, Front and King Streets
