A boon for local roads, a bane for motorists

For area drivers, this is becoming the summer of their discontent.

An unusually hectic season of road construction, intensified by hurry-up federal stimulus projects, is creating widespread congestion and delays for motorists.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will spend nearly twice as much as usual on Southeastern Pennsylvania highways this year and now has 150 road projects in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties.

On I-95 alone, 10 separate projects are under way.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation will spend 22 percent more than last year, with 10 projects under way in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties.

Local highway departments also have dozens of projects going at the same time.

The good news is that all the work is creating jobs and - eventually - smoother, safer rides. The bad news is that it means extra headaches now for commuters, truckers, and travelers.

"It's just a hassle," said Al Mazzo of South Philadelphia, a FedEx delivery driver. "It slows us down. We have to get a lot of packages delivered by 10:30, and if we're late, that's a problem."

Mazzo said the closing of the South Street Bridge over the Schuylkill had been a special headache: "It's terrible. I have to go three-quarters of a mile out of my way."

For Curt Baker, who lives in Voorhees and works in Cherry Hill, the biggest annoyance is the massive project to eliminate the Marlton Circle, where Routes 70 and 73 intersect.

"I have to plan to leave half an hour before normal because of the traffic," said Baker, who works at Mall Chevrolet. "A lot of my neighbors are doing the same thing. And it's making more traffic on the offshoot roads, too."

Orange plastic barrels and construction machinery have sprouted on I-95, the Schuylkill Expressway, I-295, I-476, I-676, and the Delaware River bridges, as crews set up lane restrictions and detours for scores of new projects.

Merge lanes on I-295 have been replaced with stop signs, as traffic is shunted onto the shoulder. Traffic on the Vine Street Expressway is constricted to one lane at times to make way for new concrete slabs. Up and down I-95, lanes are closed for resurfacing.

Summer is traditionally a busy time for road construction, but this year, states and local governments across the country scrambled to award extra contracts made possible by $26.6 billion for highway projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

To qualify for that federal stimulus money, projects had to be "shovel-ready," able to be started within 180 days. That deadline drove transportation officials to tackle projects that otherwise would have waited.

In Southeastern Pennsylvania, about $255 million in stimulus money will be spent this year on highway projects; in South Jersey, it's $133 million.

"Without [the stimulus money], many of those projects wouldn't have been done for years, if ever," said Chuck Davies, PennDot assistant district executive for design.

PennDot has $650 million worth of projects in the region this year, up from the usual $350 million.

The New Jersey Department of Transportation has budgeted $246 million worth of highway projects in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester Counties this year, compared with $183 million last year.

For motorists, that means everything seems to be under construction at the same time.

"What used to be a five-minute trip now could be a 20- or 25-minute trip," said Rami Dakko, a sales representative for Pep Boys who lives in Havertown and works for four stores in Northeast Philadelphia. "If you drive for a living, it's hard. I used to get home at 6 or 6:30, but now, it's after 7."

Preston Fox, who lives in the Art Museum neighborhood of Philadelphia, said construction on the Schuylkill and Vine Street Expressways had pushed him onto local streets.

"I avoid 76 at all costs. That is the worst road in the history of roads," Fox said. "And I've learned that the traffic lights in the city are better than sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on 676. The times that they're doing the work doesn't make any sense to me."

The lane closures and detours are most prevalent at night and during non-rush-hour periods. Construction crews try to limit lane restrictions during the busiest morning and evening hours and coordinate closures with nearby projects, said George Dunheimer, PennDot assistant district executive for construction.

"It's a hassle for commuters, but it's also a hassle for the construction managers," Dunheimer said. "We have to take into account holidays and events at the sports complex. We try to stay away from any major event."

Construction crews are taking advantage of August's relatively light traffic and the out-of-town schedules of the Phillies and Eagles to do some of the most disruptive bridge work on the Schuylkill Expressway at University Avenue.

For the next three weekends, the expressway will be down to one lane in each direction at University.

"It's a balance between keeping things open and getting the construction done," said Lou Belmonte, PennDot district traffic engineer.

Drivers in the region generally have accepted the reconstruction projects as a necessary evil, said Catherine Rossi of AAA Mid-Atlantic.

"My sense is people realize that stimulus monies are going toward construction," Rossi said. "Motorists know these projects have to get done sometime, and there is less commuter traffic on the road during the summer."

The biggest projects are being done by state transportation departments, but many local governments also have more roadwork than usual this year.

Burlington County is resurfacing about 20 miles of roads this year, up from the usual 12 miles, thanks to an infusion of $2.5 million in federal stimulus funds, county engineer R. Thomas Jaggard said. All told, the county Highway Department is spending about 25 percent more this year than usual, $25 million instead of $20 million.

In Montgomery County, the Department of Roads and Bridges has received $5 million in stimulus funds for traffic signals at 33 intersections, a big boost for a department whose total capital budget is usually $2 million to $3 million a year, director Don Colosimo said. But he said the county was doing less resurfacing work this year than last.

Frank Moran, director of public works for Camden County, said spending on highway and bridge projects had doubled to $10 million this year with the addition of federal stimulus money.

Despite the hectic nature of much of this year's work, transportation officials welcomed the new money and the projects it provided.

"I feel like we spent the money on things that will be serviceable for decades," PennDot's Davies said.