A traffic study aimed at addressing safety concerns on a stretch of state Route 45 in southern Centre County will get underway on Tuesday, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
Engineering consultant Gannett Fleming, Inc. will be collecting traffic data in Harris and Potter townships over the next several weeks during peak traffic hours from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Data will be collected at intersections including:
- Route 45 at Willowbrook Drive/Rockey Ridge Road
- Route 45 at Route 2006 (Linden Hal Road)
- Route 45 at 2004 (Cedar Run Road)
- Rockey Lane
- Estate Drive
- Elks Club Road
- Schempf Road
- Sharer Road
- Hidden Lake Drive
- Hoot Road West
- Hoot Road East
- Route 144
- Homan Lane
Crews also will be working between Estate Drive and Elks Club Road, Sharer Road and Hidden Lake Drive, Hoot Road West and East and Williams and Tussey roads.
PennDOT announced the study a year ago when Route 45 was removed from options for the planned State College Area Connector project. A potential connector between Route 45 and U.S. 322 was among some of the initial route options for the project, but raised worries about safety issues, pollution, damage to residential areas and Route 45 being ill-equipped to handle increased traffic.
None of the three potential “build alternatives” for the connector project include Route 45. But PennDOT allocated up to $3 million to study and address safety concerns on Route 45 in identified during the SCAC Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) study. The study is being conducted separately from the SCAC project.
After analyzing existing conditions, it “will identify potential safety, operational and geometric upgrades,” PennDOT wrote in a January 2024 news release. The department wrote at the time that it plans to solicit public input and will provide a timeframe for the process during the early stages of the study.
