While Stroudsburg’s residents start preparations for Interstate 80’s redevelopment, the project will take nearly a decade, according to state transportation officials.
At a press conference for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), officials said construction will start at the earliest in Jan. 2025. Ron Young, PennDOT’s District 5 press officer, gave an estimated project timeline.
“Work would begin in 2025. And that’s in the Exit 303 area on the western section of the overall reconstruction project. Then when that’s underway, the next project moving eastward would start approximately two to three years after that. And then the third one would be an additional two to three years after that one,” said Young.
With several phases, the project likely will not be completed until sometime in the 2030s. Young said PennDOT had to divide it into three parts, although they initially planned to complete it in one go.
“The staggering is really due to funding issues,” said Young. “We didn’t have that large of a chunk of money sitting in a pot, just ready to draw off of at one time. So, if we broke it up into three projects and staggered them, each year the budget gets updated and we have additional revenue that can be attributed to those other projects.”
The project will cost between $600,000,000 and $700,000,000, said Young. It spans a 3.5 mile stretch of I-80 from Exit 303 to 308. Officials said the roadway will be fully reconstructed – including all bridges and ramps. One ramp, Exit 306, will be permanently closed.
“That section of I-80 has an exit for almost ten miles – one for every mile or less. And that’s a lot of movements – vehicles coming and going on the highway. And that causes issues with speed differentials, merging, [and] crashes,” said Young.
Dreher Avenue currently connects to the highway via Exit 306. According to some residents, it is the quickest way to get from Downtown Stroudsburg to the nearest hospital, Lehigh Valley Hospital - Pocono.
PennDOT District 5 Executive Chris Kufro said the redevelopment is long overdue.
“The interstate throughout the whole corridor is antiquated,” said Kufro. “The concrete’s in poor shape. There’s a lot of accidents in and throughout the whole corridor. The interchanges need to be upgraded. The on and off ramps don’t have the proper [acceleration] and [deceleration] lanes. There’s hardly any shoulders at all out there on the roadway in the outside and inside of the lanes. So, this project will bring everything up to current design standards. It will make the whole corridor much safer.”
According to Kufro, PennDOT is making its final plans for the redevelopment. As of Dec. 2023, PennDOT plans to take 20 properties through total acquisition for the project. That number may change before construction starts.
