CRANBERRY TWP — The Freedom Road Turnpike Bridge will be replaced in spring 2018, expanding to more than twice its width to improve traffic flow and accommodate bicycles and pedestrians.

This bridge carries roughly 23,000 vehicles a day, said Melanie Percha, senior highway project manager with PennDOT District 10.

Percha said the project is a joint venture between the state Department of Transportation and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission.

The commission has agreed to pay for the bridge and PennDOT has agreed to maintain it.

Percha said this is a roughly $9 million project.

“We were very pleased with the willingness of the Turnpike Commission and PennDOT to advance this project,” said Jerry Andree, township manager.

“It just shows what can be done through collaboration and cooperation between the Turnpike, PennDOT and the township. We are very excited.”

Percha said that the bridge is a “pinch point” on Freedom Road. The current bridge has three lanes for traffic; once the new bridge is in place there will be six lanes. The width will be more than doubled.

The bridge also will have an 8-foot shared bike and pedestrian path on each side and a concrete barrier separating the paths from the road, Percha said.

Andree said the township was pleased that PennDOT added pedestrian and bikeway components. It also added two additional turn lanes onto Executive Drive.

“We don’t need those two turn lanes initially, but ultimately the traffic demand will be there,” Andree said. “We can never add it after the fact, so they agreed to put those two lanes on now.”

The Freedom Road bridge project is in the design phase, Percha said. The plan is to move to right-of-way outreach in 2016 and bid out the project in 2017. Also in 2017, the utility relocation will be done. Construction will begin in spring of 2018.

The project is part of the Innovative Accelerated Bridge Construction effort, which will limit the construction duration to a single season, according to information provided by PennDOT.

Percha said the bridge will not be closed during construction and three lanes of traffic will be maintained.

Construction of half the new bridge will be done while the current bridge is maintained. Once the new half is completed, traffic will be moved there and the old bridge will be torn down to make way for construction.