The study for this project started in 2011, and the initial project design was to remove the raised concrete traffic islands to eliminate the intermediate crossovers because those were where the high rates of crashes occur or have a tendency to occur.
This option would have left the access roads open at the northern and southern limits, but was extensively rejected by the public during a public plans display with then Senator Ferry at a town hall in 2014.
At that point, PennDOT decided to advance the southern two projects, RC1 and RC2, and reconsider the RC3 corridor to look at alternatives. The primary alternative was to create interchanges and close the frontage roads.
Additionally, there have been multiple fatalities along the corridor for mainline U.S. 1 traffic. There are no shoulders, so there is no recovery area for errant vehicles. There is nowhere to pull off if you have a breakdown. The raised concrete traffic islands do not prevent vehicles from leaving the highway, and there have been incidents of vehicles leaving the highway, crossing the raised concrete traffic islands, and ending up either in somebody’s front yard or in another accident along the service roads themselves.
The goal of this project is to improve U.S. 1 by providing more room for maneuverability along the mainline travel lanes. This requires an inside shoulder and a more substantial outside shoulder for vehicle refuge and concrete barriers to prevent errant vehicles from leaving the highway. Also, the West Interchange Road overpass has concrete piers in the traffic island that are a hazard and of concern.