TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Section 1 - Introduction 2 Figure 1 I-81 Study Segment Plan Map 7 Figure 2 2002 Average Daily Traffic Volumes 8 Section 2 - Corridor Overview and Needs 6 Figure 3 2030 Average Daily Traffic Volumes 9 Section 3 - Environmental Overview 12 Figure 4 60’ Existing Median 24 Section 4 - Public Involvement 16 Figure 5 84’ Existing Median 24 Section 5 - Transportation Solutions 20 Figure 6 Proposed Inside Widening (60’ Existing Median) 25 Figure 7 Proposed Inside Widening (84’ Existing Median) 25 Section 6 - Deployment Plan 30 Figure 8 Segment 1, Franklin County 31 • Segment Solutions and Costs 30 Figure 9 Segment 2, Franklin County 33 • Conceptual Projects and Costs 44 Figure 10 Segment 3, Franklin County / Cumberland County 34 Section 7 - Plan Results 62 Figure 11 Segment 4, Cumberland County 37 Figure 12 Segment 5, Cumberland County 39 Section 8 - Project Participants 66 Figure 13 Segment 6, Dauphin County 41 Figure 14 Segment 7, Dauphin County / Lebanon County 42 Figure 15 Conceptual Roadway Projects 45 Figure 16 Conceptual Project C1 47 Figure 17 Conceptual Project C2 48 Figure 18 Conceptual Project C3 50 Figure 19 Conceptual Project C4 52 Figure 20 Conceptual Project C5 54 Figure 21 Conceptual Project C6 56 Figure 22 Conceptual Project C7 58 Table 1 Multiple Environmental Resources 13 PAGE i Section 1 Introduction INTRODUCTION Introduction transportation needs along the corri- wide range of mainline, inter- dor and developed improvement con- change and side road improve- ments. he Pennsylvania Department of cepts to address those needs. Transportation (PENNDOT), in • I-81 from PA 114 to PA 581 conjunction with the Federal Improvements to the 77+ mile corri- T carries the highest peak hour dor present funding and programming Highway Administration (FHWA), has traffic volumes of any sub-seg- challenges to PENNDOT. In concert completed the I-81 Widening Study, ment along the study area. with the region's Metropolitan a two-year study, of approximately Current and future level of 77+ miles of Interstate 81 (I-81) in Planning Organizations, the service is expected to worsen. south central Pennsylvania. This Study Department must review hundreds of spans Franklin, Cumberland, Dauphin projects on a bi-annual basis to • The I-81 Corridor in Carlisle and Lebanon counties. ensure that the optimal needs of the has the highest concentration traveling public are met as effectively of interchanges along the entire The purpose of the study was to eval- as possible. study area with six inter- uate the need for improving and/or changes within an eight mile widening I-81 from the Maryland State There are several other factors to con- stretch. line (Exit 1) to PA 581 (Exit 59) and sider: from Interstate 83 (Exit 70) to • Maryland is currently studying • Future Exit 17, a new diamond Interstate 78 (Exit 89). As the the widening of 12 miles of interchange north of US 30 in expressway is already six lanes Interstate 81 from West Chambersburg, has been between Exits 59 and 70, this section Virginia to Pennsylvania. awarded and will be under con- was not included in the study area. Environmental clearance is struction in 2004. Through this four-phase study, PEN- expected in 2005 and the State NDOT identified existing and future Highway Administration is seek- ing funding for design and con- Summary Report struction. his Summary Report is an initial • PENNDOT District 8-0 recently step in PENNDOT's planning completed the Master Plan for T process which, working in con- Interstate 83 from I-81 (Exit cert with the Metropolitan Planning 70) southward to the Organizations (MPOs), the State Susquehanna River in Transportation Commission, and the Harrisburg. This heavily trav- public to develop the Transportation eled corridor is slated for a Improvement Program for the addition PAGE 2 Summary Report S.R. 0081, Section 036 · Franklin, Cumberland, Dauphin & Lebanon Counties, PA Introduction Moreover, an inside widening idly being proposed and built through- was chosen as the better of the out the area and therefore are con- widening concepts. stantly changing the I-81 context. The projected traffic volumes used for this Conceptual Roadway study included all planned develop- ments at the time of this study. Projects However, this document will need to be Since each of these segment revisited from time to time to ensure widening projects range in cost that the projects identified still meet from $130 million to $440 mil- the overall goal of this study - to lion, a more refined identifica- improve the safety, LOS and operation tion process, focused on reme- of I-81. diation, yielded high priority locations within the segment limits. These projects are approxi- of important transportation solutions that mately three to six miles in length with address the needs of the overall region. more manageable costs than the costs associated with constructing the entire This report summarizes the analysis of length of a segment. These smaller the entire corridor, comprised of seven conceptual projects can be constructed (7) segments (page 7), and development sooner and result in immediate positive of conceptual roadway projects. impacts to the safety, LOS and overall operation of I-81. In addition, each Segment Solutions project improvement will accommodate the projected 2030 traffic volumes, the Through the completion of this study, associated widening schemes, and will several concepts were identified and eval- set the template for future widening uated for their ability to provide the addi- tional required capacity based on future projects and ultimately the widening of traffic projections. This study concluded the entire corridor. that the widening of I-81 is neces- sary to achieve an acceptable Level Finally, it should be understood that of Service (LOS) for the 2030 project- commercial and residential develop- ed traffic volumes. ments and warehouse facilities are rap- PAGE 3 Section 2 Corridor Overview and Needs CORRIDOR OVERVIEW AND NEEDS This Study's Process The limits of each Segment are as follows: and projected growth of the I-81 corridor for both present and future conditions. s an initial step of the I-81 Exit 1 (PA 163 / State The following is a summary of the key Segment 1: Widening Study, PENNDOT Line) to Exit 10 (PA 914 / elements gathered and evaluated during Greencastle Aassessed the condition of the Marion) the course of this study. existing highway and bridge facilities along I-81, as well as determined cur- Exit 10 (PA 914 / Marion) Segment 2: rent and future traffic conditions. This to Exit 20 (PA 997 / Chambersburg phase also included an inventory of Scotland) environmental features along the corri- dor. All of these aspects were summarized Exit 20 (PA 997 / within a comprehensive document called Segment 3: Scotland) to Exit 44 (PA the Corridor Planning Report. Shippensburg 465 / Plainfield) Subsequently, the Project Team developed Exit 44 (PA 465 / and evaluated a variety of improvement Segment 4: Plainfield) to Exit 52 (US concepts to address the areas of need. Carlisle 11 / New Kingstown / Growth and Traffic This effort culminated into the Concepts Middlesex) Evaluation Report. A wide-range of con- Over the next 30 years, Franklin, Cumberland, Dauphin and Lebanon coun- cepts was initially screened at a broad Exit 52 (US 11 / New Segment 5: qualitative level based upon a variety of Kingstown / Middlesex) to ties are projected to experience continued Mechanicsburg project objectives, and then, after the ini- Exit 59 (Camp Hill) growth in population and employment. Of tial screening, the viable concepts were the four counties, Cumberland and evaluated in greater detail using quantita- Dauphin counties are expected to experi- Exit 70 (JCT I-83 / York) Segment 6: tive measures. to Exit 77 (PA 39 / ence the most growth. Harrisburg Manada Hill / Hershey) Both of these reports are available from One of the reasons for the growth is that Engineering District 8-0. this corridor is within two days delivery Exit 77 (PA 39 / Manada Segment 7: Hill / Hershey) to Exit 89 time of 50% of the United States' markets. For study purposes only, I-81 was divided Lebanon (JCT I-78 / Allentown). Because of this, the areas along I-81 are into seven segments based on several fac- experiencing heavy development pressure tors, e.g., interchange locations, land use from warehouse and distribution centers, and roadway classification. Illustrated in The Corridor Planning Report assessed resulting in an increase in truck traffic. Figure 1 on Page 7 are the segment limits the existing conditions, safety, geometric Growth in some areas is expected to within the study area. deficiencies, overall operations, traffic be so great that truck traffic in 2030 data, Level of Service (LOS), crash data PAGE 6 Summary Report S.R. 0081, Section 036 · Franklin, Cumberland, Dauphin & Lebanon Counties, PA Corridor OverviewandNeeds Figure 1. I-81 Study Segment Plan Map (not to scale) PAGE 7 Figure 2. 2002 Average Daily Traffic Volumes is projected to increase to a level 153,000 vpd. The estimation of future As development occurs and population equal to that of the total traffic traffic volumes involved the use of a increases, both within the study area today. It is also projected that the travel projection model that utilized and the region, traffic volumes will entire corridor within the study area, existing population, employment and increase. Traffic was assigned to the including almost all ramps at every development trends and translated roadway network using the Tri-County interchange, will operate at an unac- them into traffic volumes that can be traffic projection model. The model proj- ceptable LOS in the year 2030. distributed to the highway system. For ects traffic volumes based on future the purposes of this project, the existing demographic data and traffic patterns The present year 2002 traffic volumes travel projection model from the Tri- based on shortest travel time and dis- along the corridor range from 36,000 County Regional Planning Commission tances of trips.