The Route 222 expressway, first envisioned in the 1950s, was built in Lancaster County decades ago, but stopped at the Berks County line. Almost 50 years later, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, District 5, reinitiated the project to improve local and regional movements between Lancaster, Reading and Allentown. The work, in conjunction with the adjacent relocated section of S.R. 222, was the final link in providing a continuous north-south four-lane highway from the Lancaster-Berks County line into and through the Reading urban area that connects with the existing four-lane Warren Street Bypass.
The Approach
This project included final design and consultation services during construction of a four-lane limited access roadway. The project consisted of widening, minor relocation, reconstruction and upgrading of existing U.S. Route 222 from the four-lane limited access section in Brecknock Township, Lancaster County to Old Lancaster Pike (T-592) near Colonial Hills in Cumru Township, Berks County. The existing two-lane highway section was widened and upgraded to a four-lane limited access highway facility. The project was approximately 3.6 miles long with interchanges at Adamstown Road (S.R. 0568) and Mohns Hill Road (S.R. 3018).
In conjunction with roadway construction, extensive wetland mitigation efforts were required to compensate for the loss of federally and state-regulated wetland and waterway encroachments. Discovery of the federally threatened bog turtle in the project area well into the final design process required significant coordination and design alteration to ensure the project could move forward.
The Result
When the project opened to traffic in 2006, a total of six bridges, five culverts, two noise walls and various retaining walls were effectively completed. McCormick Taylor helped the project achieve its goals of reducing congestion and conflicts between local and through traffic within the area and providing an efficient connection with U.S. 422 (Warren Street Bypass) for the regional travelers . The team also established a comprehensive public involvement program for the duration of the project called Corridor Connections, which helped garner overwhelming community support for the eventual construction. Perhaps most importantly, this project illustrates the success that can come from a collaborative work effort between design, construction and environmental groups.
The Warren Street project received recognition with a 2007 Diamond Award for Engineering Excellence from the American Council of Engineering Companies of Pennsylvania (ACEC/PA).
