The MSA Thruway in Cranberry Township should be completed by mid- to late-summer.

Mike Malak, engineering and environmental services director, told supervisors Thursday evening that the extensive infrastructure project linking Cranberry Woods and Cranberry Springs with a tunnel under Route 228 as well as an exit lane from Interstate 79 northbound is “about 70% complete.”

The $16 million infrastructure project, which has been in the works for about 25 years, each day looks closer to how it will eventually appear.

Malak said crews are working on the final excavation and earthwork under Route 228 “in preparation for concrete curbwork installation,” and noted paving should begin the week following Memorial Day.

Project manager Don Herbert said in July that all paving work would be completed after the tunnel's excavation such that the roadway would have as few joints as possible.

When the project is completed, a lane coming from the I-79 northbound off-ramp will connect to a roundabout in Cranberry Woods. One lane from the roundabout will exit to the tunnel under Route 228, which will connect to another roundabout in Cranberry Springs.

Under Route 228, crews have placed prefabricated load-bearing structures, allowing the project to be completed more quickly, Herbert said last year.

Malak did not say when traffic on Route 228 could return to normal. It has been shifted one lane in either direction due to the project since the township broke ground last year.

Currently, modifications have been made slowing the entry from the I-79 offramp to Route 228 eastbound as well as from Cranberry Springs to Route 228 westbound. Additionally, lane shifts have altered how vehicles traveling west may enter I-79 northbound.

Cranberry projects nearly 1,300 vehicles will use the lane from the offramp to the thruway during the morning rush hour, reducing the traffic on the exit by more than half. On Route 228, the township expects traffic between I-79 and the exits to Cranberry Woods and Cranberry Springs to be reduced by nearly 25% in the morning and 10% in the evening.