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Work continues on College Street in Washington

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Just as the next phase of the Route 19 corridor projects begins in Washington, work on the initial part of the project is inching toward completion.

The goal is to have the project completed by the end of October. Work was done in 2012 on Lincoln Avenue. College also was to be completed but work to move a water line forced a delay to that part of the project, pushing the work back to this year.

“All the drainage work is done on the right side of the street,” said Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer for the state Department of Transportation, who is overseeing the project. “We are continuing to work on the curb and sidewalk on the north end of the project near Highland Avenue.”

“I expect we will pave the other half of the street around the third week of September,” he added. “Once that is done, we will make the curb cuts and work on the signals. The final wearing course will be done by the end of October.”

East Maiden Street from just west of College and just east of Lincoln will also be paved in late October.

Along with the new signals comes a new restriction for drivers. Making a right turn on red is now prohibited at the intersections because of pedestrian traffic, said Jaison Cox of Trumbull.

Ned Williams of Washington complimented PennDOT on the project.

“It is amazing what you have accomplished,” Williams said Tuesday during a project update meeting. “It was 1969 when I started college at Washington & Jefferson. This is such a tremendous improvement from back then.”

Faieta noted last month that this is the first major work on the Route 19 corridor around the college in his 20 years with PennDOT.

“I think when the work is done, people will be pretty impressed,” Faieta said. “The work has been needed.”

Work began Monday on Murtland Avenue near the Pennsylvania State Police barracks.

The road will be resurfaced as well as new sidewalks, curbs and some drainage work. It is part of the phase that includes realigning the intersections of Locust and Ridge avenues. Several buildings, including the former Highland Grill, will be demolished.

Faieta said that he did not expect work on Murtland to affect the work on College.

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