Eastgate Boulevard work all but complete

“Eastgate Boulevard is effectively complete.”

That’s something Union Township Administrator Ken Geis was pleased to say at a recent township trustees meeting and something members of the motoring public will be pleased to hear.

“The entrance ramp to eastbound state Route 32 should open up sometime before Thanksgiving, and we believe that the tunnel is going to also open then as well,” Geis said.

“That will be an exit ramp from northbound Interstate 275 from (state Route) 125 if you wanted to head eastbound on state Route 32 east of the Jungle Jim’s (International Market at 4450 Eastgate South Drive) area.”

Geis cautioned that it will not be until sometime next year that a lot of other roadwork in the Eastgate area of Union Township will be finished.

“The Ivy Pointe Boulevard extension to Aicholtz Road is underway,” Geis said.

“The utilities are being installed this year and the road will be complete next year.

“Aicholtz underneath the interstate will really begin in earnest next year and they will begin tunneling under the interstate to complete that road all the way to Mt. Carmel,” Geis said.

“The improvement there should take about two years and that will extend into 2016.

“I’m not sure if it’s going to be the summer of 2016 or later, but at some point you’ll actually be able to go from this location in the civic center (at 4350 Aicholtz Road) all the way to Mt. Carmel without getting on (state Route) 32 or Clough Pike,” Geis said.

Geis said road and traffic signal improvements also are beginning at East Tech Drive by the Union Township firehouse at 718 Old state Route 74.

“The transmission lines are there and they’re actually going to begin that work and that will be complete this year before Thanksgiving, as well,” Geis said.

The Eastgate Boulevard work is part of a $10 million project to widen the road over state Route 32.

It is relocating the westbound entrance and exit ramps from state Route 32 to Eastgate North Drive instead of Eastgate Boulevard, and reconstructing the westbound loop ramp from Eastgate Boulevard to state Route 32.

A total of some $46 million-worth of improvements at the I-275/state Route 32 interchange are scheduled to be complete in fall 2015.

Portions of state Route 32 will be widened from Old state Route 74 to Eastgate Square Drive.

New ramps will be built from I-275 to state Route 32 and new ramps and related structures will be built under I-275 to allow for the Aicholtz Road connector.

Want to know more about what is happening in Union Township? Follow me on Twitter @jeannehouck.