Wonder what the State College Area Connector could look like? Take a look
The proposed route — unveiled by the state Department of Transportation earlier this month — would stretch about eight miles and connect U.S. Route 322 at Potters Mills to the Mount Nittany Expressway near Boalsburg.
Flyover videos show how the recommended four-lane highway would wind through rural parts of Centre County, cutting through homes, farms, wetlands and an athletic complex.
The project's estimated cost is $600 million to $900 million, a PennDOT spokesman told the Centre Daily Times. It's aimed at improving safety and reducing congestion in one of the county's busiest corridors.
Sixteen residences would be displaced by construction, the fewest of the final three options PennDOT considered. Nineteen farms and 163 acres of farmland would also be affected.
The agency also said its suggested route would have the smallest total effect on agricultural land and historic properties. It would avoid the Tusseyville historic district.
More than a dozen bridges would be needed to mitigate impacts to wetlands and streams, the only drawback listed by PennDOT. Fifteen were listed among the other two potential routes. The agency cast the potential for encountering sinkholes as moderate.
The central alignment was most preferred by those who responded to a public survey. PennDOT said 36% of respondents preferred the central route, compared to 35% who preferred the south alternative. Eighteen percent preferred the north alternative and 11% sought a combination or other alternative.
The south alternative would have cut through the fewest farms, but also the most streams and wooded habitats by far. There would have also been a high potential for encountering acid-producing rock — something that can be harmful to plants and animals if left unchecked.
The north alternative, meanwhile, would have displaced the most residences and cut through the most farms and farmland. PennDOT said there was a high potential for encountering sinkholes.
In order to gain final approval, the Federal Highway Administration must sign off on certain environmental aspects of the project. From there, the project would head into a final engineering design phase that's expected to last from mid-2026 until the end of 2029.
That phase would be followed by right-of-way acquisition. Construction is not expected to begin until 2030 and would take about six years to complete.
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