Apr 2, 2015 2 min read

BENTLEYVILLE – The state will begin construction in August on major improvements to Interstate 70 between two Bentleyville interchanges in a project that has met with challenging historical clearances involving a cemetery and the discovery of ancient Indian artifacts along its path.

Archaeologists will arrive in Somerset Township in the summer to begin retrieving artifacts discovered where the state Department of Transportation will build a new Route 917 bridge over I-70. The work will coincide with the capping of an abandoned natural gas well in that area, said Troy Pritts, project manager.

“There will be single-lane restrictions, only at night,” Pritts said Thursday at a public meeting in the Bentleyville Fire Department Social Hall on the project that is expected to cost as much as $70 million and take three years to complete.

PennDOT also was required to use sonar equipment to search for bodies once buried in Newkirk Cemetery and possibly paved over to create the highway six decades ago near the Wilson Road interchange. The state Historical and Museum Commission said it wanted the investigation work to be performed to make sure no other graves were disturbed at the cemetery during the reconstruction project.

PennDOT also was met with fruitless efforts by preservationists to save the former Newkirk Church that was serving most recently as a steak house before it closed. The state reached a $1-million agreement with the building’s owner to demolish it for a new interchange with safer ramps to and from I-70 west.

The plans displayed Thursday showed the I-70 median in the area will double in size to become 8 feet wide. PennDOT will eliminate the westbound I-70 off ramp and its eastbound on ramp at the Route 917 interchange and widen and replace two bridges in areas where tractor trailers make up 31 percent of the traffic volume. A roundabout will be constructed at the south end of I-70 at the Wilson Road interchange.

Work is expected to begin on widening I-70 east in August 2016 and end a year later when construction will begin on widening I-70 west. The construction contracts are expected to be opened in early July and the project is scheduled for completion by late 2018, Pritts said.

The highway design shown Thursday included just a few changes to the one displayed here at a public meeting a year ago, he said.