PennDOT might open Schuylkill Expressway shoulders to traffic

Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation is considering opening shoulders on the Schuylkill Expressway during peak traffic hours in an effort to relieve traffic jams on the highway, officials said Thursday.

The stretch of highway between Route 202 and Route 1 has been subject of a traffic study since late 2014, PennDOT spokesman Eugene Blaum said Thursday, because of major backups that routinely occur there. A study by American Highway Users and AAA last year found the expressway at Route 1 to be among the 50 worst bottlenecks in the country.

The department hasn't concluded it will open the road's shoulder, but Blaum described it as "a key focus area of the study." Opening the shoulders on the road would potentially require changes to ramps, the existing width of the shoulders, overhead signs and the structures that support overhead signs, Blaum said. It has not been decided when the study's findings would be implemented, he said.

Transportation Secretary Leslie Richards brought up the possibility of opening the highway's shoulders at a panel discussion about transportation in Philadelphia Thursday.

The study might end this spring. Other solutions being considered are more advanced signs that alert drivers to stopped traffic ahead, information to encourage drivers to use public transportation and varying speed limits.

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