PennDOT and concrete pavement: is the heyday over?

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

2 examples:

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=40.560406,-75.612459&spn=0,0.027595&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=40.560912,-75.604343&panoid=vN3qs2pK8JFN0VhctT8nMg&cbp=12,243,,0,2.06

and

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=41.962777,-77.11971&spn=0,0.013797&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=41.963481,-77.12078&panoid=utpnA8I138lRxdqMwQqtAQ&cbp=12,174.4,,0,12.28

Both brand-new alignments, evident from the satellite view.

Anyone who knows anything for certain?

[Mr_Northside]

I think it might depend on the district....

[PAHighways]

I can't speak for 222, but US 15 had subsidence issues in that area and so asphalt was used as an overlay since if it cracked it can be recycled.  The same problem occurred at Exit 44/PA 136 on Turnpike 43 and asphalt was used as the top coat, rather than concrete which is how all of the extensions have been built.

[Crazy Volvo Guy]

I see.  I also got to thinking that perhaps they were in a rush to get 222 done.  I was last in Allentown 5 years ago and there was a LOT of traffic in the area near 222, even back then.

[signalman]

I think time was a factor and PennDOT was in a rush to get the bypass open.  The old 222 (Hamilton Blvd) has been plagued with heavy traffic for years.  Interestingly enough, I'll be in that area on Saturday.

[Mr_Northside]

The US-22 reconstruction / widening projects in Westmoreland county have been done in concrete, but I noticed back in 2006/2007 that the redo of a section starting in Cambria County was done in asphalt. 
(I'm not sure what has been done on the route in Indiana county, as I haven't been on it between Blairsville and Armagh since mid-2006, when the project after the US-119 split was still pretty young)

[PAHighways]

The US 22 upgrading project is concrete as per standard PennDOT practice.

[NJRoadfan]

I think time was a factor and PennDOT was in a rush to get the bypass open.  The old 222 (Hamilton Blvd) has been plagued with heavy traffic for years.  Interestingly enough, I'll be in that area on Saturday.

Are they ever going to connect the Kutztown and Reading Bypasses of US-222? Seems kinda stupid to have such a busy corridor with a 2 lane section in between. I haven't been in the area since 1996, and it was a mess back then.

[PAHighways]

There was a study conducted during the last decade on connecting the two segments, and recently locals have been pushing PennDOT to build an expressway.

[Mr_Northside]

The US 22 upgrading project is concrete as per standard PennDOT practice.

I'm just saying, the part that starts in Cambria Co & heads east (I want to say it was completed late '06, early '07) was a reconstruction project that didn't use concrete, which struck me as odd.  I chalked it up to being a different district.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=Gas+Center+Rd,+Seward,+Indiana,+Pennsylvania&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=41.411029,93.076172&ie=UTF8&cd=1&geocode=FbElaQIdEupK-w&split=0&hq=&hnear=Gas+Center+Rd,+Seward,+Indiana,+Pennsylvania&ll=40.434013,-78.912649&spn=0.039002,0.123596&z=14&layer=c&cbll=40.43395,-78.912864&panoid=3kPN912jXPbynXqBz62n_A&cbp=12,44.31,,0,10.5

[PAHighways]

PennDOT usually uses an asphalt overlay when rehabilitating a road, such as District 12 did when it rebuilt 30 between Greensburg and Latrobe during the late 90s/early 00s.  If it is an overlay on an entirely new section, there had to be a reason such as ones I mentioned earlier.