Spring is just around the corner.

Be prepared to stop.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation kicks off its 2008 season Monday with two big projects getting under way.

The first, and one of the most expensive projects planned in the county this year, is $11.36 million in improvements to Route 30 between Columbia and the Prospect Road overpass in West Hempfield Township. Five bridges along the highway will be rehabilitated, along with the Route 441 and Prospect Road overpasses. The project is expected to be completed in September 2009, and Route 30 is likely to be down to one lane in each direction for much of the project.

The second, smaller project is the replacement of the Route 772 Oregon Road bridge over Lititz Run Creek in Manheim Township; the bridge will be closed and detours posted for the duration of the $815,008 project, with the new bridge open to traffic in October.

Bridge work is a recurring theme in the list of projects tentatively slated for 2008, with 10 of the 28 projects on the list involving bridge rehabilitation or replacement. All told, PennDOT expects to spend upward of $69 million on Lancaster County projects this year, though some of the projects could be pushed back to next year or beyond.

That's in addition to the bigger projects — new roads and bypasses — that local officials have said may be put off indefinitely because the state simply doesn't have enough money to do more than fix deficient bridges and upgrade roads in poor condition.

In that respect, said Dave Royer, chief transportation planner for Lancaster County, PennDOT's plans are little more than a holding action.

"Although these are expensive projects, they are system preservation/maintenance projects," he wrote in an e-mail. They're in line with county priorities — but also with the state's "emphasis on structurally deficient bridges and poor ride quality of roads."

Single lanes
The roads may get smoother, but it's likely to be a bumpy ride — particularly on Route 30.

"My experience has been that any single-lane traffic restriction on Route 30 in the western part of the county creates a bottleneck and lengthy delays for motorists — especially commuters between Lancaster and York counties," said PennDOT spokesman Greg Penny.

Beginning Monday, crews will shift traffic on Prospect Road to the northbound lanes of the bridge and set up a temporary concrete median barrier to separate traffic from the work area. There will be long-term single-lane restrictions in each direction until crews finish the western half of the structure.

On Route 30 itself, crews will begin setting up long-term single-lane traffic patterns March 17 for the first phase of work, between Columbia Borough and two miles west of the Prospect Road overpass. For the first nine weeks, traffic will be shifted to the right shoulder in each direction, and work will take place in the median and left lane. From May through July, traffic will be shifted to the left lane and shoulder while work on the other side gets under way.

The Route 30 plan is the second most expensive project on tap this year. The first is the repaving of about 14.5 miles of Route 222 from Ephrata Township north to the Berks County line. Work on that $11.5 million task should start in June and wrap up by October 2009.

Nine other projects are expected to cost $2.5 million or more, including the long-awaited Strasburg bypass, the relocation of Route 896. Work on that project could begin in November — though it might also get pushed back into 2009, said Penny — and is expected to cost $5.7 million.

Other major projects on the drawing board this year include:

•Repairs to three bridges crossing Route 283 (Spooky Nook Road, Landisville Road and State Road, all in East Hempfield Township) a $2.8 million project that will periodically reduce traffic to a single lane in each direction on Route 283. Work began last August and should be complete by April or May; overnight lane restrictions on Route 283 begin this week, as well as occasional daytime lane restrictions between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

•The $5.8 million rehabilitation of the Norman Wood Bridge, Route 372, in southern Lancaster County, beginning in April. That project is likely to involve lane restrictions during daytime work hours; in addition, work on the project will be limited because bald eagles are nesting beneath the bridge, and federal guidelines require PennDOT to "minimize disturbances to nesting sites," said Penny.

•The $4.4 million closing and repair of the Pequea Creek Bridge, Route 324, to begin in August.

•Conclusion of the $3.8 million rehabilitation of the Pine Grove Covered Bridge on Ashville Road over the Octoraro Creek between Little Britain Township in Lancaster County and Lower Oxford Township in Chester County. Work began last August and should be complete by June.

•The $2.6 million repair and resurfacing of Route 897 between Route 272 and Ridge Road in East Cocalico Township, scheduled to begin in March and wrap up in October.

•The $2.5 million resurfacing of 4.5 miles of Route 222/Robert Fulton Highway from the Maryland line to Route 272 in Fulton Township. Work is to begin in May and be completed by October.

•The $2.5 million resurfacing of Route 322/28th Division Highway from New Holland Pike to the Chester County line. Work may begin in October and is expected to last through January 2010.

Of the 10 projects involving bridges, the Pequea Creek span is probably most in need of repair, said Penny. PennDOT uses a 100-point formula to determine a bridge's "sufficiency rating" (55 percent based on structural condition, 30 percent on the bridge's ability to meet current traffic conditions and 15 percent on how essential the bridge is to public use).

The Pequea Creek Bridge is rated at 1. "No other bridge in Lancaster County has a sufficiency rating that low," said Penny.

Yet while such obvious deficiencies are high priorities, the Lancaster County Transportation Coordinating Committee — in charge of long-term planning — continues to mourn what might have been.

The big projects designed to add capacity to the local traffic network have for now been shunted to the back burner — and may remain there, even as the county updates both its four-year transportation improvement plan and its long-range transportation plan, through the year 2035.

Those projects include the proposed new Route 23, Route 30 in the eastern part of the county, from Route 896 to Route 41; the Route 283 interchange with Route 722, as well as the Route 283 interchange with Centerville Road, which would itself be widened; and the relocation of Route 441 in Columbia.

There just isn't enough money, said James Cowhey, executive director of the Lancaster County Planning Commission — though given that a "modern, intelligent, well-maintained and expanded system is necessary for the successful future of the county, region and commonwealth," he said, the money needs to be found.

"I believe local governments and private-sector partners would be willing to participate in the solution," said Cowhey.

"But the state must lead the way."

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Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at gsmart@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-8817.
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