Yellow PagesMost of I-99 to open by Dec. 4
- Original Centre Daily Times article: Most of I-99 to open by Dec. 4
PATTON TOWNSHIP -- State officials said Thursday they're on target to open most of Interstate 99 by Dec. 4 and that there's plenty of space left at the acid rock disposal site to take the rocks that remain to be moved.
'We're at the point where we're ready to go with the last stockpile of material,' Ben LaParne, assistant PennDOT district engineer for construction, told environmental regulators and other state officials during their regular biweekly meeting.
HRI Inc., of State College, general contractor of I-99's Skytop section, has completed construction of a temporary roadway that will link already paved sections of I-99 with U.S. Route 322 just east of the Skytop crest.
LaParne said HRI plans to have its end of the link ready to go by Thanksgiving, Nov. 22.
He said New Enterprise Stone & Lime, general contractor for the eight-mile Bald Eagle Ridge section between the Blair County line and Port Matilda, has completed all road and shoulder paving and is installing signs and completing other finishing touches.
LaParne said PennDOT will announce a firm date for the opening as soon as it is set.
'We're shooting for Dec. 4,' he said. 'We ought to be in pretty good shape for the opening next month.'
He discounted the possibility of an earlier opening 'unless we get some summer weather here.'
The opening will allow motorists from the Altoona area heading toward State College to stay on the four-lane, limited-access I-99 to the State College side of Skytop, where they will make the transition to existing U.S. Route 322.
Motorists heading from State College to Altoona can get onto I-99 southbound at the Port Matilda interchange and stay on it until Altoona or beyond.
Later, after PennDOT has completed hauling its pyritic rocks to a disposal site, southbound motorists will be able to get onto I-99 at the same place where northbound motorists get off, just below the Skytop crest.
Mike Joseph can be reached at 235-3910.
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