Oct. 28—FRANKLIN TWP. — Route 288 at Lake Road near the Zelienople Airport will be closed for several months next year while crews realign the road to make room for flight runway improvements.
Engineers for the Zelienople Airport Authority and PennDOT have released a PowerPoint presentation on the project instead of holding a public hearing like they regularly would have because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The presentation is posted on the websites of the airport and Franklin Township. An electronic survey is attached to the last page of the presentation.
According to the report by Kelly L. Shroads-Gray of Widmer Engineering Inc., contracts will be awarded this winter with an eye on starting the project in the spring and completing it in fall 2021.
Routes 288 and 1010 will be closed for the duration of the project to expedite construction time. Motorists are seeing some restrictions now while crews relocate utilities in anticipation of next year's work.
Detours will be posted and are included in the presentation. Cars heading toward Zelienople on 288 will take Old Furnace Road to Hartzell Church Road to Route 588. The detour to the south will be the reverse. Trucks will have to use Route 65 to 588.
The project includes the realignment of 1,740 feet of 288 to eliminate a reverse curve, which will approve sightlines, and lower the road by as much as 50 feet.
The realignment of 1,247 feet of 1010 will include the widening of the lanes from 9 feet to 10 feet and improving stopping sight distances. The highway will be lowered by as much as 30 feet.
The project will relocate the intersection of the routes from a curved location to a lined location; the elimination of this curve will improve the intersection sight distance to the south. The intersection will be lowered by 25 feet.
The purpose of the project is to make improvements for Runway 17. The runway is not expanding; the airport still is open only to smaller aircraft. However, the changes will help the airport meet Federal Aviation Administration clearance requirements for night-time operations.
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