Southbound Kingston Exit 5 on 309 to close

To facilitate continuing its renovation of the Cross-Valley Expressway bridge of state Route 309, the state Department of Transportation announced on Monday that it will be closing southbound Exit 5 at Wyoming Avenue in Kingston from mid-July to mid-October.

The two-lane highway will remain open for through traffic.

The project to replace rubber expansion joints on the bridge over Mercer Avenue has progressed to a section where it would be impossible to safely route an off-ramp there, said Karen Dussinger, PennDOT’s regional spokesperson.

“Because we are switching lanes and changing traffic patterns, crews will be at a position that would have traffic making a 90-degree lane shift for the exit,” she noted in an e-mail, calling the proposition “impossible with many vehicles and certainly not safe.”

Along with the expansion joints, the project also included adding concrete on supporting columns that had deteriorated and eroded from innumerable flows of saline. The saltwater from winter road applications was rotting the rubber, allowing the brine to leak through, eating away the concrete underneath and exposing steel reinforcements.

The traffic-pattern changes created by the continuing work have been a confusion for drivers. Traffic had been diverted to the road’s outer lanes and shoulders, then returned to normal during the winter. Now, it’s diverted to the inner lanes and shoulders.

But until now, no entrance or exit had been cut off. Dussinger was unsure if any more would be. PennDOT has designated a detour that starts at Exit 6 in Luzerne. Since it must follow state routes, Dussinger noted that it might not be the most direct route and that locals are welcome to use better ones if they’re aware of any.

Swoyersville police, who cover Luzerne, were unaware of PennDOT’s plans when contacted on Monday and said they had not discussed any actions to adjust for the changing traffic patterns.

The bridge preservation work will continue through the summer and is expected to be complete by late fall.