Parts of each of the four remaining projects to widen Route 228 from Route 8 to Route 19 are funded, which is the closest that the state Department of Transportation has come yet to completing the upgrade of the entire section of the heavily used highway.

Brian Allen, PennDOT’s District 10 assistant district executive for design, identified the four sections as:

Ball’s Bend section from Route 8 to the western end of the bend

Just east of the intersection with Three Degree Road to the new bridge near the intersection with Mars Valencia Road

Just west of the intersection with Mars-Valencia Road to just past Pittsburgh Street in Adams Township

From the Pittsburgh Street intersection to Franklin Road in Cranberry Township.

The total cost for the first three projects is $45.5 million.

The cost for the longest and most expensive project, from Pittsburgh Street to Franklin Road, cannot yet be estimated because it is at least 10 years away. However, it does include some funds for engineering work.

Here are the areas involved in this long-term project to improve Route 228.

[naviga:h3]Ball’s Bend[/naviga:h3]

The Ball’s Bend project is in the preliminary engineering phase, and funds are available to buy rights-of-way for that section. The project will widen and partially straighten the easternmost section of the highway.

The estimated cost for the Ball’s Bend stretch is $24 million. Allen said the earliest it could be completed is 2021.

[naviga:h3]Mars Schools[/naviga:h3]

The project to improve the intersection at Three Degree Road and stretching to the new bridge east of Mars-Valencia Road has received preliminary engineering funds, as well as some money for buying rights-of way. Construction on the estimated $15 million project could begin in 2020 at the earliest, depending on funding.

The project will improve Route 228 past the Mars schools and MHY Family Services. Allen said engineers are looking at the road staying where it is with a possible shift to accommodate four lanes without taking existing buildings or features.

Allen said PennDOT is considering two lanes each way and a turn lane for the area of the schools. He also said Three Degree Road would be widened and turning lanes added where it enters Route 228.

“We’re still evaluating it,” Allen said. “When we feel comfortable, we’ll go out to the public (with the project) like we did with Ball’s Bend.”

[naviga:h3]Pittsburgh Street[/naviga:h3]

The $6.5 million project to improve the intersection at Pittsburgh Street and Warrendale Road is fully funded, Allen said.

The project will widen Route 228 to four lanes, add a turn lane, and widen Pittsburgh Street and Warrendale Road where they enter Route 228. The earliest that project could begin is 2018, Allen said.

[naviga:h3]Longest stretch[/naviga:h3]

The long stretch of Route 228 from the Pittsburgh Street project to Franklin Road in Cranberry has received some partial funding for engineering, but a cost or potential construction date is impossible to predict, Allen said.

“That’s obviously a big chunk and an expensive one,” Allen said.

All costs and potential construction dates are subject to future funding, Allen said.

The municipal officials and business owners along Route 228 agree that the congested and inadequate highway needs to be upgraded.

“It’s welcomed, no doubt,” said Seven Fields borough manager Tom Smith. “But I think the commercial and residential growth has by leaps and bounds outpaced the infrastructure.”

He said since the original Route 228 Improvement Project in 2002 lost its funding, the municipalities along the highway have struggled with the technology to keep traffic flowing smoothly. The original project would have improved the highway from Route 8 to Route 19, but funding was eliminated.

“I think we’ve waited patiently,” Smith said.

Donald Aiken, chairman of the Adams Township board of supervisors, said the township officials met with officials under former Gov. Tom Corbett regarding Route 228.

“It’s very much needed,” Aiken said. “We’ve been asking for it for a long time.”

Tom McMeekin, owner of Quality Gardens near the border of Middlesex and Adams townships, said he is thrilled that the entire length of Route 228 will be widened.

“It’s long overdue in this time of gridlock in Harrisburg, and I’m glad to see there is some type of progress being made toward improving our local area,” McMeekin said.

But he worries that customers traveling east won’t be able to turn into his parking lot in the upgrade.

McMeekin said the 2002 plans showed a grassy median in front of his business that would prevent eastbound cars from accessing Quality Gardens.

“Without that turn lane, Quality Gardens would fizzle,” he said. “Most of our business comes from Cranberry.”