Source, Philadelphia Business Journal, Kennedy Rose

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will break ground on a new traffic management center in 2020, an approximately $33 million project that makes way for the state agency’s plans to boost its headcount.

A new two-story, 30,0000 square-foot facility will be built on a parcel of land near PennDOT’s current center in King of Prussia. That space is operating at 40 percent over capacity, and a larger facility will cut down on the overcrowding while making room for new hires, officials said at a Thursday press conference.

Maintenance of new technologies in Pennsylvania’s transportation systems, particularly along Interstate 76, will require PennDOT to hire new employees. The current facility does not have enough space for those hires and the update systems, PennDOT Deputy Communications Director Brad Rudolph said.

The $33 million cost is a rough estimate. The majority of the price tag, $25 million, will go towards the new traffic management center. Significant modifications to an existing parking structure accounts for the remaining $8 million. Twenty percent of the facility’s funding will come from the state, and 80 percent will be funded by the federal government.

PennDOT expects to have the project out for bid by the end of 2018. The contractor hired would be responsible for the “heavy architectural work,” Rudolph said.

The facility will have minimal design work completed before they hand the project off to a contractor. The entirety of 2019 will be available for the contractor to design the facility with PennDOT’s needs in mind, Rudolph said.

PennDOT expects to break ground on the facility in 2020 and complete the project by the end of 2021. The current facility will continue to be used by PennDOT.

The project was announced Thursday, along with plans to install variable speed limit signs. PennDOT also provided an update on the addition of “flexible” lanes on the Schuylkill Expressway, a plan first reported by the Business Journal.