Some Big Changes Coming to Readings West Shore By-Pass in Reading, PA

[jpi]

It will more then likely be the end of the decade but maybe a potential Reading area road meet??
http://readingeagle.com/news/article/changes-aimed-at-taming-west-shore-bypass

[jpi]

In case the link don't work...

Changes aimed at taming West Shore Bypass


Thursday March 20, 2014 12:01 AM



Games of chicken at the West Shore Bypass's Penn Avenue cloverleaf could become a thing of the past.
So could the terrifying leaps of faith that come with getting onto the highway's left lanes at Lancaster Avenue, as well as the confusion over which direction provides access to East Neversink Road.
Updating those interchanges - and just about everything else that's wrong with Reading's 50-year-old main artery - would be the focus of a $650 million makeover of the bypass PennDOT is planning to undertake over the next decade or so.
A team of engineers and local officials has been studying the highway for the past year to figure out what's wrong with it, what could be done to fix it and how the work could be done without disturbing flood plains or historic bridges.
The findings were presented at a meeting Thursday of the Reading Area Transportation Study, which plans how state and federal roads funds are spent in Berks County.
The plans are preliminary at this point because PennDOT needs to further design the project.
Local planners expect to set aside about $6.7 million to get that engineering started in the next four years.
"This is really a rough draft of the project," said Alan D. Piper, senior county transportation planner. "The further you go in that process, the more defined the improvements become."
Construction could take eight to 10 years and won't start for at least another four years. The work must be spread out because of the hefty price. The road would remain open during the work.
Outdated infrastructure
The West Shore Bypass is the 7-mile stretch of Route 422 between Route 12 in Wyomissing and the end of the expressway in Exeter Township.
About 78,000 vehicles travel the busiest stretch, near the Wyomissing Boulevard exit, daily.
The highway was repaved in 2012 but is still plagued by congestion and safety issues that come with its age.
Narrow lanes and shoulders give little room to maneuver and if there's even a minor crash at rush hour, traffic can back up for miles.
Outdated interchanges - including Lancaster Avenue in Reading, where vehicles enter and exit the highway from the left - cause safety hazards.
Several bridges on the highway are aging, including the large ones that cross the Schuylkill River in Cumru Township.
Because there are few feasible detours, a weight restriction on any of the bridges would be a huge disruption to trucks.
Frank Eells of Gannett Fleming, PennDOT's consultant, said the goal is to fix the highway's problems in one fell swoop.
"The study was directed: 'Let's do this right,'" he said.
The plan is to rebuild the entire highway and repair or replace the bridges. The highway would be widened to six lanes west of Lancaster Avenue. East of Lancaster Avenue, the road would be widened but remain at four lanes.
Interchange updates
Three of the highway's most baffling interchanges would be redesigned and the others would get some minor updates.
There wouldn't be many changes to the Route 12 or Wyomissing Boulevard exits in Wyomissing, just new ramps with wider lanes.
Entrance and exit lanes at the Interstate 176 interchange in Cumru Township would be extended but the layout would stay the same.
The major changes are pitched for the cloverleaf in West Reading, Lancaster Avenue and the East Neversink Road exit in Exeter Township.
At the cloverleaf, where incoming vehicles have to battle for limited space with exiting and through vehicles, a lane separated by a median or barrier would be added in each direction for the exit ramps. Vehicles would take the separate lane for the exit well before the cloverleaf.
"Traffic getting on or off at Penn Street will not have to merge with the through traffic," Eells said.
The ramps would also be reconfigured to meet Penn Street at two new traffic lights.
At Lancaster Avenue, ramps would be moved so traffic would get on the highway in the right lane, not the left. The on-ramp for the eastbound bypass would be moved to Route 10. Two other ramps would moved so they meet Lancaster Avenue and Route 10 at a four-way intersection.
The changes, Eells said, would improve safety getting on to the highway and reduce traffic on Lancaster Avenue, Route 10 and the Bingaman Street Bridge.
Now, westbound bypass traffic can't get off at East Neversink Road and traffic on East Neversink Road can't get onto the bypass to go east.
The interchange would be updated to a full diamond so drivers could get on or off in any direction.

[froggie]

Wish they'd more fully include the interchange at 222/12.  Would be difficult to rebuild it now under traffic, but I once designed a fix for it.

[Tom958]

Games of chicken at the West Shore Bypass's Penn Avenue cloverleaf could become a thing of the past...

At the cloverleaf, where incoming vehicles have to battle for limited space with exiting and through vehicles, a lane separated by a median or barrier would be added in each direction for the exit ramps. Vehicles would take the separate lane for the exit well before the cloverleaf.
"Traffic getting on or off at Penn Street will not have to merge with the through traffic," Eells said.

That's a bit surprising to me. Lately the trend has been toward replacing obsolete four loop interchanges with SPUI's, especially  when space is limited.

Wish they'd more fully include the interchange at 222/12.  Would be difficult to rebuild it now under traffic, but I once designed a fix for it.

I'd like to see it. Sure would be dandy if they could add the missing movements.