Freedom Road Fix? Cranberry Applying for Grant Money for Wider Bridge

Cranberry officials say the two-lane Freedom Road bridge is ranked as one of the Top 10 most congested corridors in nine surrounding counties by the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission, the state's regional planning agency.

And while the Pennsylvania Turnpike and PennDOT’s District 10 have no immediate plans to replace the busy structure, which is a Turnpike-owned bridge on a state highway, Cranberry is leading the charge to try to get improvements made to it.

The township is applying to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program for federal grant money to ease traffic flow on the bridge.

Since 2012, CMAQ has provided nearly $30 billion in funding to 29,000 transportation-environmental projects to state Department of Transportations, metropolitan planning organizations and other sponsors across the country.

“It’s a special federal designated pot of money that runs through the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission that’s allowed to handle congestion management,” Township Manager Jerry Andree said of the program. 

“We thought we might as well shoot for any pot of money we can get, working with District 10.”

At one time, the Freedom Road bridge was scheduled to be replaced with a wider structure. 

PennDOT even funded preliminary design plans for the estimated $9 million project, Andree said.

“It was putting two lanes in each direction, with a set of turn lanes, so a five lane bridge, with sidewalks,” Andree said.

Then congress passed Act 44.

Signed into law by then Gov. Ed Rendell in July 2007, Act 44 requires the Turnpike make a $450 million annual payment to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The commission has increased tolls every year since its passage. Now, about 18 cents of every toll dollar goes towards PennDOT road repairs.

The turnpike also has plans to continue widening its roadways from four to six lanes.

Another key element of the Act 44 legislation was that the funding be used to repair the state’s structurally deficient bridges. 

The Freedom Road bridge was not on that list, and plans to replace it were halted.

After Act 44, Andree said PennDOT was severely limited on the funding it could allocate for capacity projects like the Freedom Road bridge.

“In our case, the capacity projects are what matters,” he said. “That’s why we’ve had to scurry and look for alternative funding.”

The township grant application to CMAQ is due Aug. 30. Andree estimated it could now cost about $10 million to replace the bridge. He added the township’s priority is to get funding for a wider structure.

Assistant Township Manager Duane McKee said Cranberry should learn within a few months if the Southwest Pennsylvania Commission approves using the CMAQ money for the Freedom Road bridge project.