On Thursday, October 19th -- weather permitting --  construction crews intend to shift the single lane of southbound traffic from the left lane to the right lane through the Route 222 construction project in northeastern Lancaster County. This portion of the overall project covers about four miles, from Bushong Road to the Farmersville Road overpass. On Tuesday, October 20th, a similar shift from the left lane to the right lane will occur in the northbound direction.

The single-lane around-the-clock traffic restrictions, which started in late August, are necessary so that construction crews can safely make repairs to the concrete pavement and the concrete deck and approach slabs for two bridge structures on this four-mile section of the project. With the traffic shifts occurring this week and next week, the single-lane restrictions will continue until about November 21st before Route 222 is restored to two lanes of traffic in both directions.

The overall project actually measures approximately 7.6 miles between Bushong Road in Manheim Township and just north of the Mohlers Church Road overpass in Ephrata Township.  Work began on the project in late June and is scheduled to be completed by January 2011. 

This portion of Route 222 was built in the late 1960’s and consists of a 24’ wide, 10” reinforced concrete roadway with bituminous shoulders. Average daily traffic counts are nearly 29,000 vehicles in the northbound direction and 21,000 vehicles in the southbound direction. Roadway improvements in the current construction project include concrete patching of the existing roadway, new bituminous shoulders, sawing and sealing of existing joints, guide rail upgrades, and a bituminous overlay.

In addition to roadway rehabilitation, the project also includes improvements to existing bridges located at Cocalico Creek, Church Street (at the Brownstown interchange), and Pleasant Valley Road.  These improvements include total replacement of bridge approach slabs, new pavement approaches, and deck repairs.