Progress this summer continues to be made on Penn DOT’s U.S 1 construction project with three bridges in various stages of completion, officials said last week.
The department provided a summer update on the Route 1 construction project, provided by TMA Bucks, the county’s transportation agency.
As four lanes of U.S. 1 traffic weave through the work zone from the Pennsylvania Turnpike Interchange to the north of the Penndel Exit, PennDOT’s contractor continues making progress on three new bridges and other improvements being completed under the $111 million project to widen and improve U.S. 1 in Bensalem and Middletown townships, Bucks County.
Near the center of the mile-long work area, crews are dismantling the existing northbound bridge over the Neshaminy Creek and will begin building abutments for the new span this summer.
Four lanes of northbound and southbound U.S. 1 traffic were shifted onto the new southbound Neshaminy Creek bridge last spring following the completion of roadway improvements on both sides of the bridge.
North of the creek, abutment and center support pier construction continue on the new southbound bridge at the Penndel/Business U.S. 1 Interchange.
Working through the challenges of building a bridge over busy SEPTA/CSX rail lines and imposing PECO electric line towers, crews expect to finish building the bridge’s supports and installing deck beams in late September, with deck work continuing into the fall.
Up the hill south of the creek, vehicles are riding on new southbound pavement and shoulders and then over the existing southbound bridge over Rockhill Drive while the northbound side of the bridge is being constructed.
The new northbound bridge is anticipated to be completed by the end of summer. Once the northbound side is completed, traffic will be shifted onto the rebuilt section while crews demolish and reconstruct the southbound side of the overpass.
The stop sign at the end of the ramp from the PA Turnpike to northbound U.S. 1 also will be removed at this time as traffic entering the expressway will have a continuous third lane to merge with mainline traffic.
Last spring, following the completion of a long retaining wall to support the widened northbound pavement approaching the Neshaminy exit, traffic leaving and entering U.S. 1 was shifted onto new northbound on-off ramps.
Traffic was placed on the new off-ramp at the Penndel exit too.
The on-ramp to southbound U.S. 1 from Rockhill Drive remains closed for construction to improve the interchange. While the rebuilt southbound off-ramp here remains open, crews will reconstruct the southbound on-ramp during construction of the southbound side of the overpass, which is expected to be completed and the ramp reopened next spring.
Excavation north of the PA Turnpike continues in the shoulder areas to allow for the construction of an additional travel lane in both directions on U.S. 1 through the Penndel/Business U.S. 1 Interchange.
Widened sections on the northbound side will be completed and opened to traffic following the completion of the new northbound bridge over the Neshaminy Creek.
Section RC2 is part two of PennDOT’s three-phase project to improve four miles of U.S. 1 in Bucks County by reconstructing and widening the pavement, building several bridges, and improving several interchanges along a continuous three-mile section of highway in Bensalem and Middletown townships.
RC2 construction is expected to be completed in mid-2026.
In 2014, PennDOT completed $14.8 million in improvements at the U.S. 1/Maple Avenue Interchange in Middletown Township as part of their overall initiative to modernize and upgrade the U.S. 1 corridor in Bucks County.
A third project, RC3, will improve U.S. 1 from the Penndel/Business U.S. 1 Interchange north through the Route 413 overpass. The project remains in final design and is not yet scheduled for construction, PennDOT said.
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