Following guidance outlined in PennDOT’s Design Manual* the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process for this project was coordinated between PennDOT**, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the project design consultant team.
Based on these discussions, the anticipated proposed project improvements, along with recent guidance from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), PennDOT, and the FHWA concluded that the environmental study for Section RC3 would be an Environmental Assessment (EA), as the significance of the impacts was not yet fully known.
During the past several years, the project team has been completing the necessary environmental and engineering studies, coordinating with the various review agencies, conducting municipal and public outreach efforts, developing impact assessments, and identifying avoidance, minimization, and mitigation efforts for the project.
PennDOT will be using this information to prepare the EA documentation and will make this material available for public comment prior to finalizing the environmental process for this project, currently anticipated in Fall 2025 / Winter 2026.
- *Publication 10B – Design Manual Part 1B (Post-TIP NEPA Procedures)
- ** PennDOT District 6-0 and PennDOT Central Office
PA 413 (Pine Street) is federally classified as a Regional Principal Arterial. This classification of roadway is meant to carry most trips entering and leaving the area and serves intra-area travel. In the existing condition, U.S. 1 traffic must exit the mainline via frontage roads and then disperse onto neighborhood streets, and then travelers work their way to a major street (e.g., Pine Street) to continue or complete their trips. Providing a direct connection to PA 413 (Pine Street) via an interchange reduces traffic on neighborhood streets and places vehicles directly onto PA 413 (Pine Street) via a modern interchange design.
Current practice is to provide 16’-6” of clearance for a bridge over a highway like U.S. 1. PA 413 (Pine Street) is posted for a minimum clearance of 13’-11” and has been accidentally struck previously, most recently on April 12, 2022, by under-passing trucks.
PennDOT is only able to restrict truck traffic based on engineering justification (e.g., deficient vertical clearances, bridge weight limitations, pavement structure) or due to traffic conditions. PA routes and primary highways are generally not posted with truck restrictions and are preferred highway facilities to accommodate truck traffic (in comparison to neighborhood streets).
Changes to the designation of PA 413 are not part of this project. The designation or redesignation of PA 413 would involve the Bucks County Planning Commission and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission in coordination with PennDOT and other regional stakeholders. Any redesignation of PA 413 needs to examine regional travel patterns, which are beyond the scope of this project. With the availability of modern traffic routing tools and smartphone applications, such a redesignation would likely have a minimal effect on traffic volumes passing through Langhorne Borough.
PennDOT and its design consultant engineer previously completed an initial high-level investigation into both a tunneling option and a potential depressed roadway alternative with access (bridge) crossings. The initial investigations had the cost of tunneling in the range of $900M to $1.3B based on similar projects nationwide. The initial investigations into a depressed roadway (excluding capping with green space) were in the range of $300M to $400M. Additionally, future maintenance would also need to be taken into account, which is considerably higher for an underground facility when compared to a typical at-grade roadway. Lastly, detailed studies/reports were not completed for either option to determine constructability/feasibility.
Access will be provided at all times during construction to residences and businesses where construction takes place.
To limit congestion, queues, and delays due to construction, 2 lanes of traffic will be maintained in both directions on the U.S. 1 mainline and along Street Road from 5 AM to 9 PM. Based on experience along the corridor, traffic will be able to be reduced to 1 lane in each direction from 9 PM to 5 PM, when traffic volumes are much lower.
At certain times throughout the life of the project, 15-minute rolling traffic stoppages are anticipated to allow for overhead work such as bridge demolition, bridge beam installation, overhead sign structure truss installation, etc. These traffic stoppages will be limited to occur during overnight hours when traffic volumes are the lowest.
Due to high traffic volumes and the need to maintain 2 lanes of traffic in each direction on U.S. 1 from 5 AM to 9 PM, certain construction operations will be restricted to nighttime work when additional working room (i.e., additional lane closures) is necessary. PennDOT will attempt to limit the amount of nighttime work permitted through requirements included in the contract documents.
The construction duration within the RC2 corridor is currently anticipated to take approximately 5.5 years total, through Summer 2026; however, it should be noted that this schedule is subject to factors such as utility relocations, weather, etc.
