Highway widening in Pennsylvania

Major highway widening work is planned in the US State of Pennsylvania. Around US$125 million will be spent to widen Interstate 76, the Schuylkill Expressway. The busy highway route runs from Philadelphia, though Harrisburg, past Pittsburgh and over the state border to the outskirts of Cleveland in neighbouring Ohio. The project is being organised by the 2535 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) in a bid to cut congestion on key sections of the route, as this results in severe delays for drivers during peak periods at present. Additional VMS technology will be included in the work so as to provide live traffic information to road users. As well as building the extra lanes, there is also a proposal to implement hard shoulder running during peak periods, which may necessitate the provision of emergency parking areas.