Improvements to U.S. Route 62 in Sharon that have been put on hold for over two years while the new Oakland Avenue Viaduct was supposed to be completed are going to resume.

PennDOT officials unveiled plans for Route 62, also known as Connelly Boulevard in Sharon, in July 2000. PennDOT, along with Sharon City officials, decided to put the work on hold until the new viaduct was complete. Then-mayor Robert T. Price said he thought the traffic congestion would be too much with both projects going on at the same time.

PennDOT plans to add turning lanes on Connelly at Smith, Service and Spencer avenues. There are also plans to extend the median barriers through the intersection at South Myers Avenue with an opening for pedestrian crossing. Traffic will not have access to Connelly from Shady Avenue and traffic on Edgewood Street will not have access to Stambaugh Avenue.

Work on Connelly is now scheduled begin in March or April and be completed in three to four months, Mayor David O. Ryan said. City and PennDOT officials have been meeting for the past year to discuss plans for the work, he said.

In light of the situation with the viaduct, Ryan said the work on Connelly should never have been postponed because it could have been finished by now.

Work on the viaduct halted after bridge inspectors discovered the steel beams that support the bridge are misaligned by 3 inches in some places. The project is more than a year behind and schedule, and county officials have said the bridge must be completed by Feb. 24 or the contractor faces a $650 per day fine.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Kristen Garrett at kgarrett@sharonherald.com