Progress continues on widening the PA Turnpike’s Northeast Extension, writes Evan Jones for The Morning Call.
Still, travelers will wait until at least 2026 for six lanes to fully open between mile marker 38 and the Quakertown Interchange (exit 44).
In its 2024 construction review, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission (PTC) reported $286 million spent statewide on maintenance and improvements, including the $203 million widening of I-476. Traffic has been shifted onto newly widened pavement with temporary barriers, and this alignment will remain until the project’s completion.
The next phase, widening the stretch between Quakertown and the Lehigh Valley Interchange, is set to begin in 2028.
Additional projects on I-476 include the $88 million replacement of Hawk Falls Bridge in Carbon County with a steel-arch bridge over Mud Run and a new bridge over Route 534, expected to finish in 2026.
Other regional projects include road widening near Downingtown, slated for completion in 2027, and I-95 interchange reconstruction in Bucks County, with bridge replacements over Neshaminy Creek due in 2026.
The $53 million open-road tolling (ORT) gantry system on the Northeast Extension is set to launch in January, with central Pennsylvania installations beginning in late 2025.
Read more about construction on the PA Turnpike’s Northeast Extension in The Morning Call.
