About the Project

    PENNDOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) are evaluating improvements to transportation facilities in the Laurel Valley region of eastern Westmoreland County. Elected officials and economic development organizations representing the local business/industry leaders in the study area feel that there is a need for improving the north-south transportation facilities to support the economic revitalization occurring in the study area.

    This phase of the Laurel Valley Transportation Improvement Project involves the completion of Step 4 of PENNDOT's 10-Step Project Development Process - Phase I Preliminary Alternatives Analysis. The Phase I Preliminary Analysis includes an environmental inventory and overview of the project area and preliminary engineering activities to define alternatives that meet the project needs. The intent of this analysis will be to identify and map the environmental features and then develop alternatives for comparison.

    In addition to the Phase I work, the project team has reevaluated the Needs Analysis, which was completed in July 2000, to include any recent transportation methodology changes and to verify ongoing growth and traffic issues.

The project needs identified in the Needs Study focused on:

• Safety - Isolated locations exist where accident rates are greater than three times the statewide averages.



• Capacity - The traffic volumes in the study area are projected to increase by the year 2025. These increases result in deficient levels-of-service on area roadways. As traffic volumes increase, the overall efficiency of the movement of goods and people decreases.



• Infrastructure - The infrastructure of the study area roadways show deficiencies since travel in the north-south direction is provided by winding, steep, two-lane roadways with narrow shoulders. Bridge restrictions limit the truck traffic travel in this direction.



• Economic Development - The north and south highways that serve the Laurel Valley corridor are narrow, winding, circuitous, two-lane roads. The existing condition of the north-south highway system may not sustain existing commercial and industrial development, and may not support planned expansions and new developments in the study area.

  Click the map to enlarge.