Part of Centre County road to close for major highway project. Detour will be in place for years
A portion of Jacksonville Road will close next week as part of the Interstate 99/Interstate 80 interchange project, and the long-term closure is expected to last for years.
The Trumbull Corporation, the project’s Pittsburgh-based contractor, will close Jacksonville Road between Lyonstown Road up to Jacksonville’s intersection with I-99, according to a press release from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. This closure will result in a long-term detour that PennDOT anticipates will be in place until the project’s completion in 2030.
The closure and detour will allow the contractor to “conduct large earth moving operations for the project,” PennDOT wrote in the release.
While the road is closed, motorists looking to access I-99 from Jacksonville Road will follow Jacksonville Road to the intersection of North Wilson Street, then take North Wilson Street to East Bishop Street and then East Bishop Street to the interstate.
In addition to the detour, motorists that have been parking their vehicles near the interchange will no longer be permitted to do so.
The long-planned $259 million interchange project, which started earlier this month, will use high-speed ramps to provide a nonstop connection between I-99 and I-80 in Boggs, Spring and Marion townships. Drivers will no longer have to use state Route 26 to access either highway.
Work on this project will include the building of the interchange, ten bridges, four retaining walls, five box culverts, seven sign structures and three changeable message boards.
The project also includes new and rebuilding existing roadways and ramps, drainage improvements, installing intelligent transportation devices, guide rail and highway lighting, pavement marking and stream improvements.
About $170 million of the funding used to pay for the project comes from the $1 trillion federal infrastructure legislation that passed in 2021.
This high-speed interchange is the second part of a three-phase project. A $52 million interchange was completed in fall 2022 about two miles east of the existing I-80 Bellefonte exit.
The third phase of the project will come in 2026, when PennDOT reconstructs and widens state Route 26. Glenn O. Hawbaker was named the apparent low bidder for that phase of the project, with a bid of $8.6 million.
