Beginning July 9, and lasting approximately eight weeks, motorists can expect single lane conditions from 7 PM on Sundays through 12 PM on Thursdays on I-81 north between the Lebanon County line and Exit 104 (PA 125) in Pine Grove and Tremont townships. These restrictions will allow crews to safely repair sections of recently placed concrete that developed premature cracks.
“Restricting a lane again on I-81 north is unfortunate,” District Executive Michael W. Rebert said. “But we need to ensure the concrete is repaired immediately, and we apologize for the inconvenience to the motoring public.”
The cracks started forming this past winter on the newly rehabilitated section of I-81 north. Engineers believe the cracks formed due to unanticipated rigidity of the shoulders, creating a clamping effect that placed a high amount of stress on the concrete travel lanes during freeze cycles.
Work began in June 2015 to improve this section of I-81 north and south, and was originally scheduled to be complete this past spring. The project includes placing an unbonded concrete overlay, interchange improvements at Exits 100 (PA 443) and 104 (PA 125), guiderail updates, signage updates, new pavement markings, brush/tree cutting, and other miscellaneous construction.
Unbonded concrete overlay is a roadway resurfacing process in which a new layer of concrete is poured over an existing layer of pavement with an interlayer between them to break the bond between the two layers. The interlayer allows the layers to expand and contract independently of each other.
Hi-Way Paving, Inc. of Hilliard, OH is the general contractor on the project.