The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that PennDOT was awarded $69 million.
The money is from the new Rural Surface Transportation Grant Program, which is meant to support PennDOT’s Central Susquehanna Valley Transportation Project.
A new four-lane limited access highway of 6.1 miles will be constructed, connecting U.S. Routes 11/15 near Selinsgrove to Route 15 near Winfield. There will be an interchange and connector within Shamokin Dam to PA Route 61 into Sunbury.
The Transportation Department said the area for the project has higher than average crash and fatality rates, with many crashes involving trucks.
The department adds that the plan intends to separate trucks and through traffic from local traffic.
"Due to decades of disinvestment, around 13% of rural roads and 10% of off-system bridges, most of which are in rural areas, are in poor condition. The fatality rate on rural roads is also two times greater than on urban roads," the announcement reports.