Commissioners seeking nearly $61 million for completing Route 228 expansion
Butler County commissioners approved an application Wednesday, June 17, for nearly $61 million in federal funds to complete the fifth, final and most expensive segment of the Gateway 228 project.
The $60.99 million Infrastructure for Rebuilding America Grant would partially fund widening and reconstructing the final 3.2-mile section of Route 228 from Franklin Road in Cranberry Township to Pittsburgh Street in Adams Township. That segment is in the middle of four other segments.
“We’ve got this last 3.2-mile segment right in the middle,” said Leslie Osche, commissioners’ chairwoman.
She called it the most complicated and expensive part of the project due to righ-of-way acquisition costs and the hilly terrain.
Commissioner Kim Geyer said the right-of-way acquisition costs will be high because properties along that section of Route 228 are developed, and those properties will have to be acquired for the project.
The application to the U.S. Department of Transportation is due by July 1, said county economic development and planning chief Mark Gordon.
He said the county’s application is for the maximum amount of money available through the grant program.
To date, $184 million has been spent on Gateway 228 construction including $45 million in federal BUILD grants. The county has leveraged $4.90 for each federal dollar to complete the funding for the project, Gordon said.
The four other segments will have been completed ahead of schedule at or under budget, he said.
“The cost controls have been very strong,” Gordon said.
Gordon noted the starting point of the last segment at the intersection of Route 228 and Franklin Road in Cranberry Township is the future home of the first Meijer store in Western Pennsylvania.
Osche said Pennsylvania Department of Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll and U.S. congressmen and senators representing the county have supported the project.
“We’re very pleased with the collaboration that we’ve had and the support that we have to try to get this project done,” Osche said. “It really leads the region. It’s the leading project, I think, in the region.”
The fourth project segment, which is the widening of Three Degree Road — will be completed in the fall. Work on the fifth and final segment will begin early in 2027, Gordon said, after the commissioner’s meeting.
The $60,990,000 in federal funding for the final segment will pay for part of the $122 million cost, he said. The state has committed $25 to $30 million and the county and municipalities are contributing the rest of the money, he said.
