PennDOT says Route 22 eastbound bridge to open this fall

Though the agency did not have a firm date, it said the project has been on schedule.

The original completion date for the entire project is August 2019, said Sean Brown, spokesman for PennDOT. The work includes rehabilitating two bridges on each side of Route 22 and the Fullerton Avenue Bridge. Though it’s known as the Lehigh River Bridge, it consists of two bridges on each side of the highway, Brown said.

“The bridges were in very bad shape,” Brown said.

The Fifth Street Bridge over Route 22 is being removed to make way for new ramps at the interchange, he added.

Now that the eastbound lanes will open this fall, the westbound lanes of the Lehigh River Bridge will be next, Brown said.

Work began on the project, which also covers portions of Hanover Township, Lehigh County, in September 2015.

Wagman Heavy Civil Inc. of York is the general contractor.

This $64.7 million project is a separate but linked project to widen Route 22 between 15th Street and Route 378. That project, estimated to cost about $280 million, is designed to widen the four-lane highway to six lanes. Some of the new lanes will serve as extended exit and entrance ramps that stretch between MacArthur Road and Fullerton Avenue in Whitehall Township.