The estimated $330 million project to reconstruct and improve the 10-mile expressway between Cheltenham Avenue and State Route 63 (Welsh Road) is comprised of five separate mainline contracts.

The first, completed in late 2003, replaced two bridges over Route 309 with longer spans to accommodate the widened shoulders and longer ramps that will be constructed under the four additional main line contracts.

Subsequent contracts to rebuild the main line expressway began in 2004, with the start of work to rebuild the central section of the expressway. In 2005, construction of a reconfigured interchange at Fort Washington (adjacent to the Turnpike Interchange) began as well as work to rebuild the southern one-third of Route 309. The southern contract, which covers the area from north of Paper Mill Road to Cheltenham Avenue, also includes reconstruction of the PA 152/Easton Road Interchange. By the end of 2008, two thirds of the PA 309 Expressway – from Highland Avenue south to Cheltenham Avenue – will have been reconstructed. From Highland Avenue north, the final contract work will continue through 2010.

In addition, PennDOT completed work in 2002 to improve travel through 32 intersections or roadway sections on key roads near the Route 309 corridor. These improvements help cars and trucks move more effectively on alternate and feeder roads that are expected to become more heavily traveled during work on the Route 309 expressway.

Travelers on the Montgomery County highway have had a preview of the finished product, the payoff on PennDOT’s $350 million investment, when traveling through the completed sections immediately north and south of Fort Washington and at the major interchange near Glenside.

There you’ll find:
• Reconstructed pavement.
• Widened and refurbished bridges, culverts, and overpasses.
• Improved functionality at the reconfigured PA 152/Easton Road Interchange.
• More room to accelerate or slow down at longer, wider on- and off-ramps at other locations.
• Wider shoulders and median.
• A 50-inch high concrete median barrier/glare screen.
• Sound walls at numerous locations.
• Improved storm water management.

And these same improvements remain under construction across the remainder of this 10-mile expressway between Philadelphia and its northern suburbs.