I-99/US 220/US 322 Construction: I-99/US 220 Bridges Over US 322 and Park Avenue

July 14, 2002 Photos by Timothy Reichard

(Click to enlarge)

Panoramic view of the I-99/US 220 bridges from the new Innovation Park road. I-99/US 220 joins US 322 in the distance. Park Avenue is the divided roadway entering in the distance from the right. This bridge tour will start from this location, north of the interchange, and work its way closer to the the bridges and to the merger with US 322.

Most of the ground-based parts of the interchange were paved as of July 2002. This offramp from I-99/US 220 southbound to US 322 eastbound is the exception.

While the offramp descends, the mainline follows the north end of the I-99/US 220 bridges.

Another view of the offramp and north end of the bridges. The offramp will go under the bridges here, curve left, go under both mainline bridges of US 322, and merge onto the onramp from Park Avenue to US 322 eastbound before joining mainline US 322.

Underneath the bridges, looking north.

Looking north along Park Avenue. The bridges curve most of 90 degrees.

A closer shot of one of the bridge piers. The drainage pipes have not been installed on this pier.

Another pier by Park Avenue has the drainage pipes installed. Theses look the same as the ones on the PA 144 overpasses.

The spans over Park Avenue. US 322 is carried across the overpasses to the left (only one is seen here). The signs on the overpass are the EXIT signs for the cloverleaf to Park Avenue, which curves under the I-99/US 220 bridges and meets Park Avenue to the right of the photo.

Having sidestepped a few feet, the bridge curvature is more apparent.

One more view of the I-99/US 220 bridges over Park Avenue.

Following the bridges halfway up the hill, they cross over US 322 westbound to merge/split with US 322 in the median of the Mount Nittany Expressway. The US 322 mainlines (eastbound and westbound) were completely reconstructed with a far-wider median to allow this merger. A double bridge pier was built to carry the southbound (closer) bridge over US 322 westbound.

Here is a closer view of the bridges running almost parallel over US 322 westbound. In the distance, up the bank, is US 322 eastbound, which ascends much higher than the westbound lanes to flow over the onramp from I-99/US 220 southbound to US 322 eastbound (the one mentioned at the beginning of this page).

I'll toss in a winter photo here. This is US 322 westbound approaching at the Park Avenue exit. The I-99/US 220 enter from the north on the right to the median on the left. The beams are all in place, but the decks are not complete when this photo was taken on 1/30/01.

Here is the view along US 322 westbound. I-99/US 220 southbound is above, and the onramp from Park Avenue is about to merge from the right.

From that onramp, the I-99/US 220 bridges can be seen descending after crossing the US 322 westbound lanes (the truck is on one of these lanes).

Just ahead, the bridge beams meet the bridge abutment, which is several stories tall.

A closer view of descending I-99/US 220.

I-99/US 220 (top left), US 322 (left two ground lanes), and the onramp from Park Avenue (right lane) all merge within a half mile. That is, 5 lanes become 2.

At the end of the descent, I-99/US 220 meets US 322 after the Park Avenue onramp ends.

For comparison, I show here the new US 322 mainline bridges over Park Avenue. This photo shows the eastbound bridge. The banks on the left and right, closer to the camera than the bridge, are where the old US 322 mainline bridges once stood. Those were demolished in

Here is the new westbound overpass.

I've thrown in one more winter photo, which shows the new and old bridges along Park Avenue northbound. Five of the six bridges are visible in the photo. The closest bridge carries US 322 eastbound traffic, while westbound traffic follows the fourth closest bridge (barely visible, count the bridge abutments and shadows from right to left to pick it out). The two bridges in the middle used to carry US 322 before the I-99/US 220 construction began. These bridges were demolished during the week of March 4-8, 2002. Behind and above these four bridges (barely visible in this photo) is one of the I-99/US 220 bridges. The new US 322 bridges were separated more than the old bridges so that I-99/US 220 could merge from the median of US 322. Photo shot 2/3/02.