On the Road to Change: Major Construction Planned for Route 228

From business to housing to the roads themselves, big changes are in store for Route 228, one of Cranberry’s most heavily trafficked corridors.

The Roads

At Thursday’s board of supervisors meeting, Cranberry’s chief strategic planning officer John Trant detailed major plans for the state highway.

Among the planned changes: the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation plans to build new northbound and southbound ramps from Route 228 to Interstate 79.Trant said the construction of the ramps should cut back on traffic backing up on the highway because drivers would no longer have to turn left from Route 228 to access the interstate.

That project is expected to take place in the fall of 2012, he said.

The township also is working in a public-private partnership to improve Route 228 with the Cranberry Woods business park, ECHO Realty -- the development group behind the proposedshopping center -- and Gary Sippel, who owns vacant property at the corner of I-79 and Route 228.

This includes widening the westbound lanes of the highway and adding triple left-turn lanes out of the Cranberry Woods business park. Trant said the triple lanes would be a first for the region.

“They should help during that peak movement time,” he said. 

Emphasizing the importance of public private partnership, Trant said the $3.5 million project to improve the Cranberry Woods intersection would use no state or federal money.

Trant said ECHO also has agreed to build a connecting road between Mars Road and Cranberry Woods Drive. Also in the works is a flyover ramp that would carry traffic from I-79 over Route 228 to the highway’s north side between Cranberry Woods Drive and the new ramps.

A new street – dubbed Long Tree Way -- set between Route 228’s “restaurant row” and Westinghouse headquarters also will run parallel to Route 228 on the highway's southside and end at a signal-managed intersection with Franklin Road.

Assistant Township Manager Duane McKee said Don Rodgers, the developer for the Village of Cranberry Woods, is now connecting Long Tree Way to Franklin Road.

“They’re cutting it in as we speak,” he said.

That signal should be in place by fall, he said. Trant said residents may see a majority of construction start by spring.

Trant also went over local road improvements planned for the Dutilh Road area. Trant said there is a growing interest from developers in building on the empty land surrounding Dutlilh Road, which is why the township is mapping out the best traffic patterns for the area.

The Buildings

Officials also gave the green light to hold an Aug. 4 public hearing on a

Cranberry officials adopted the overlay last summer as part of the comprehensive Cranberry Plan. It enhances the zoning classification for the area by allowing a higher-density mix of residential and commercial use, including buildings with retail space on the first floor and residences above it.

Other uses permitted under the overlay are townhouses, small retail stores, banks, professional office space and more. Traditional Neighborhood Development also calls for streetlamps, benches and sidewalks that would offer a town-like feeling found in older areas with main streets. The TND, as it’s commonly called, already is in place on parts of Freedom and Rochester roads, including the that is adjacent to

Following the hearing, Henshaw said supervisors could approve the overlay at their Sept. 1 board meeting.