"I wanted to dispel any rumors that this project wasn't going to happen," state Rep. Keith McCall told an audience of about 40 area residents at the Penn-Kidder campus of the Jim Thorpe School District during an open house last night.

"There will be an interchange on Route 903. There will be access both northbound and southbound."McCall, who currently serves as the Speaker of the House of Representatives and will be resigning from the General Assembly when his term ends next month, wanted to be clear about the progress of the construction.He has served as chairman of the House Transportation Committee, this project has been a priority of his for a number of years. He wanted to make sure all of the bumps in the road were smoothed out before he left office.Project engineers and team members were on hand to answer questions and discuss the ongoing construction of the E-Z Pass Only interchange located in Penn Forest Township where Route 903 crosses over the Northeast Extension, I-476.When the Route 903 interchange is finished, it will be one of four all-electronic turnpike interchanges in Pennsylvania, but it will be the first four-way system.Preliminary engineering has cost approximately $14 million and the interchange is expected to be fully up and running by spring 2014, and carry a final pricetag of $25 million.Many residents voiced concern that the project was taking longer than originally scheduled and they were worried that the lack of road construction signaled abandonment of the interchange."People ask us 'What's taking so long?'" Carl DeFebo, manager of media and public relations for the turnpike commission spoke to those concerns. "We're just out there doing the work that needs to be done to get the permits from the Department of Environmental Protection and the various federal agencies."The southbound half of the bridge that will carry traffic for the duration of construction was completed in May.In December, applications for permits will be submitted to DEP and the Army Corps of Engineers, and are expected to take up to a year for approval.To comply with all regulations required for permit approval, the commission has been cataloging the plant and wildlife inventory of the ecosystem.One environmental issue they ran into was the need to move some of the wetlands that cover much of either side of Route 903 in a process called mitigation which is being funded by the project.Since the wetlands are protected as exceptional value waterways, they can only be built on if other wetlands are created elsewhere to replace them in the same watershed."When you're talking about exceptional value water, it's a whole new book of rules and they're significant," said Rep. McCall, who has used the exceptional value designation in the past to protect the land from other interests, and thinks that this will be a small, but surmountable hurdle.The turnpike commission is also negotiating with private property owners to acquire right-of-way access around the interchange, which in many places is as small a width as five feet.Talks have been under way with various property owners and while it is not true in every case, the majority of the negotiations have gone well."Most of these acquisitions end amicably," DeFebo said. "When property owners first learned about the project, there was a surprise factor. But the law is in place to protect property owners."The commission was fortunate to be building in a residentially and commercially sparse area.The acquisition of land includes an appraisal of the property and by law they must offer fair market value in the transaction. Were they to have to demolish a residence, the commission would cover closing and moving costs to the owners at an expense to the commission and a burden to the resident."We're fortunate that, for a project of this scope, we didn't impact dwellings," continued DeFebo. "If we were doing this in Lehigh County we likely would. In this case, we have to negotiate with homeowners to acquire property, but we're not relocating anybody."Phase two, which is expected to begin in spring 2012, will see the completion of the second half of the bridge, construction of the ramps and EZ-Pass toll plazas.Signals at each new intersection will control the flow of traffic, and there will be improvements along Route 903 where the road is to be widened.Once complete, the final interchange will consist of a widened Route 903 roadway with one northbound through lane, two southbound through lanes and left turn lanes for traffic entering the turnpike from Route 903.The turnpike commission is currently operating an EZ-Pass Only interchange on Virginia Drive near Fort Washington; is opening another next month in Bucks County; and is breaking ground on another in Chester County.All-electronic toll plazas will permanently replace traditional interchanges and in the future drivers will need to purchase an EZ-Pass tag to access turnpike roads.For updates on the project and additional information, visit

www.paturnpike.com and follow the links "Construction," "Projects," and "Route 903 Interchange."