Northbound Blue Route Reconstruction Work Begins

CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. (CBS) -- Drivers who travel the Blue Route will have another new traffic pattern to deal with on Tuesday, just in time for the morning rush.

If you remember last year's "cattle chute" on southbound Interstate 476, this project is the same idea -- only in the opposite direction.

"We're putting one northbound lane over on the southbound side of the highway," explained Pennsylvania Department of Transportation spokesman Gene Blaum.  "We'll have two northbound lanes running on the northbound side while we rebuild that side of the interstate, one half at a time."

Blaum says you can use the express lane if you're going to Germantown Pike West, Plymouth Road, the east-west Pennsylvania Turnpike, or the Northeast Extension.  But, he warns, stay in the regular lanes traveling north past Villanova-St. Davids for these exits:

"I-76, or Rt. 23 Conshohocken.  If they want to get off at the Ridge Pike or Chemical Road exits, or if they want to get off at the Germantown Pike East exit."

Again, keep to the right for those.

And Blaum notes that the new traffic patterns will be in place even before Tuesday's expected snowfall, so be extra cautious in that area.

The lane changes are expected to last until late October in this final stage of the Blue Route's reconstruction.

Watch Bob Kelly's traffic reports on CBS 3 Eyewitness News and listen to KYW Newsradio 1060 for "Traffic and Transit on the Twos."

Reported by Ian Bush, KYW Newsradio 1060.