FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) — With the decision to recommend keeping Route 8 four lanes from just south of Franklin to just north of Barkeyville, PennDOT and Michael Baker International (MBI) said various parts of the roadway will eventually see an upgrade.

The cost of the project is through to be between $33 million and $38 million according to Max Heckman of MBI and will include a variety of upgrades including the complete reconstruction of the roadway.

In addition to the rehab of the roadway, there will be bridge rehabilitation on two bridges, improvement of curves and warning signs in and out of the Sandy Creek Valley and drainage improvements.

Heckman said the study discovered that at least 90 percent of the highway’s surface was rated between fair and serious condition with serious condition making up the most of that at over 20 percent of the roadway.

“More than 90 percent of the pavement is in need of replacement,” Heckman said. “A complete reconstruction is needed. The roadway is 50 years old, it was made to last 25 years. It is definitely time for reconstruction.”

In the question-and-answer period after the presentation, Hutchinson, who has served in the legislature for 26 years (1992-2012 in the house and 2012- present in the Senate), asked why it was allowed to go 50 years without anything being done to it.

“If essentially there isn’t any new rebuilding over a 50-year period and you leave a 10-mile corridor essentially untouched it causes headaches,” Hutchinson said. “Now we have this huge project that is going to squeeze out other projects. Whereas if it had been taken care of in smaller segments over time, we wouldn’t have even been having this conversation.”

“I am not sure I can address why we didn’t do that,” Foringer said. “But I will tell you there are a lot of needs. Decisions were made that this wasn’t a priority to do that concrete patching when we should have. Unfortunately, it is in the condition that it is in.”

Forninger also pointed out that to preserve the roads in Pennsylvania, PennDOT needs $1 billion every year and its budget is $458 million.

“We don’t have enough funds to maintain what we have,” Forninger said. “It’s a challenge every day for us. We look at new techniques, new applications to try to maintain the pavements and the bridges that we have.”

When asked after the meeting what he and his fellow legislatures could do to make sure that the lack of upkeep on the roads doesn’t happen again, Hutchinson said PennDOT has to have a “maintenance first” mantra.

“Whether that can be made to happen in every single situation is another story,” Hutchinson said. “But, as an overall philosophy, that has to and should be what PennDOT does.”

When asked how PennDOT would be able to maintain current roads on a budget, that according to Heckman, is half of what it needs to do that, Hutchinson said PennDOT should stop building new roads.

“We are building new roads,” Hutchinson said. “I mean go around the state and you see lots of new roads being built, not so many up here, but in lots of other places. That is adding capacity when you can’t maintain what you go, that’s an upside-down way of thinking about things.”

Reconstructing the roadway won’t be the only improvement.

PennDOT is hoping to address the crash rate on the curves in and out of Sandy Creek Valley, which is where the highest percentage of crashes on the roadway take place.

According to Heckman, part of that reason is the bank in the curves is not in accordance with current standards.

“They will be banked slightly more,” Heckman said. “That can be done when repaving the road and it will make it safer.”

The study also revealed that a pair of bridges need to be fixed — the bridge (both northbound and southbound) over Dennison Run Road and the bridge (both northbound and southbound) over Sandy Creek and Fisherman’s Cove Road.

The Dennison Road Bridge is in fair condition with the deck, piers and abutments cracked and spalled and erosion on the embankments. The estimated rehab cost for the bridge is $100,000.00.

The Sandy Creek Bridge is also in fair condition with the joints cracked and leaking, the pier caps cracked, the abutments washed out and the deck patches. The rehab cost, which is needed to preserve the bridge, is estimated at $300,000.

PennDOT would also like to address issues at Morrison Run Culvert.

The culvert’s size and condition do currently meet current standards but improvements to access upstream will allow better inspection and cleaning. PennDOT would also like to monitor and repair eroded stream banks upstream, repair the downstream culvert apron and stabilize and repair upstream slides near the culvert’s entrance to reduce blockages and sediment.

Heckman said that the best storm-water management practices would be used including promoting vegetated swales and channels to reduce sedimentation and use native vegetation in the disturbed areas.

“Ideas on how to control stormwater have changed since the roadway was built,” Heckman said. “When it was built, pipes were thought to be the best way to control it. Now, the open channels are thought to be how it should be when possible.”

While construction will hopefully take place, it won’t happen at the earliest until 2020 or 2021 and then will most likely be done in segments.

Preliminary design work and NEPA (environmental) work will take place in 2018 and 2019, the final design will be approved in either 2019 or 2020 then construction will take place.