The start of work on the U.S. Route 219 Bradford Bypass project
has been delayed – again.

For the third time in a week, the cold and wintry weather has
delayed the start of the project until Monday, weather
permitting.

“We are now set for Monday,” Pennsylvania Department of
Transportation McKean County Maintenance Manager Pat Shinaberger
said Wednesday. “The weather has been the whole problem.”

Work on the bypass was originally slated to begin Feb. 15,
however, the process has been delayed twice since then because of
snow, and most notably, cold temperatures, which hinder line
painting that crews from Mascaro Construction Co. of Pittsburgh
want to do.

“They can’t get the paint on the road until it’s at least 50
degrees,” Shinaberger said.

Monday calls for partly sunny skies with highs in the mid-40s,
according to The Associated Press.

“They (Mascaro) are just as anxious as everybody else is to get
moving,” Shinaberger said.

When crews do begin – they have been putting up traffic signs
along the bypass – they will focus not only on line painting, but
also on removing guiderails and right-of-way fences and doing
excavation work for the temporary widening of the road.

Traffic will then be funneled down to one lane and will remain
that way until the northbound lanes of the highway are completed.
The one-lane traffic will effect motorists traveling the highway
from the Owens Way exit to just north of the Kendall Avenue
exit.

PennDOT officials have said the larger and more noticeable work
will likely begin in April with the arrival of warmer weather.

The project, which comes at a total price tag of more than $55
million, will be done in two phases, during which the bypass will
be completely restored and a handful of bridges replaced. As part
of the work, the existing concrete pavement will be removed from
the surface of the highway and be replaced with bituminous
material.

Officials said the northbound lanes will be completed during the
2006-07 construction seasons, with the second phase, the southbound
lanes, slated to go for bid in December of 2007, with work ongoing
during the 2008-09 construction seasons.