Study on State College Area Connector project is done. What happens next?
The state Department of Transportation released its final Planning and Environmental Linkages report for the State College Area Connector study on Wednesday.
The results of the study identify transportation alternatives that will advance into the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process and preliminary engineering, PennDOT wrote in a release. The 124-page report outlines the three Build Alternative corridors that were selected for further study in the NEPA process, as well as why other alternatives were considered but did not move forward. It also shows a refined study area that was developed.
The SCAC initial study area encompassed 70 square miles of southern Centre County, including portions of Potter, Spring, Harris, College and Benner townships, and the Centre Hall Borough. The refined study area is much smaller.
“Moving forward, PennDOT expects to continue performing field verification of environmental features within the new study area. As part of the NEPA phase, it will refine alternative corridors to minimize impacts. It will also update traffic models to refine alignment and interchange configuration,” PennDOT wrote in the release.
PennDOT staff and others working on the project were at the Potter Township board of supervisors meeting on Monday to give an update on the project. A PennDOT spokesperson said staff will be updating stakeholders in the near future on the final version of PEL study and what the next steps in the process are.
A public meeting to present the refinements to the alignments is anticipated to be held in late spring of 2024, according to PennDOT.
The corridors that were identified in the final report do not differ from those that were identified in the draft report, and include US 322-1S, US 322-10EX and US 322-5.
All three alignments would bring the project through the U.S. Route 322 corridor at a cost that ranges from $432 million to $517 million. Main line construction would span about eight miles.
The first two options would include a connection with state Route 45. The third option would run the project south of the existing highway. Each would connect Potters Mills Gap to the intersection of Route 322 and Route 45.
The goal of the SCAC project — which Gov. Tom Wolf said in 2019 could cost about $670 million — is to improve a 13-mile stretch of U.S. Route 322 from the Seven Mountains to State College. The project has been in the works for more than a decade.
To read the full report, visit www.PennDOT.pa.gov/SCAC.
