Schuylkill County Commissioners sent a letter to Housing Secretary Peter Buttigieg last week supporting a grant application by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for Route 61 improvements.

Route 61 is a “Critical Rural Freight Corridor for the region and contributes to the economic vitality of the entire Schuylkill County and Northeastern Pennsylvania Region,” commissioners said in the March 10 letter advocating for the Infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant.

“We support this project because not only will it improve serious safety issues within the PA 61 corridor, it will also create significant economic opportunities within a fast-growing warehousing and distribution business sector in Schuylkill County. Schuylkill County’s transportation infrastructure must be well positioned to handle the anticipated increase in freight,” they said.

The letter talks about the 2021 PA Critical Rural Freight Corridor Safety Enhancements. The project, which has been in the works for years, includes the reconstruction of four lanes between Saint Clair and Frackville. The 4-mile stretch of road “contains multiple substandard horizontal curves, steep rock embankments, substandard shoulder widths, and limited sight lines-all of which contribute to unsafe conditions.” It also says the pavement is in “poor condition” and sections of the southbound embankment have degraded.

“Temporary slope repairs have been evaluated and determined to be fiscally infeasible. A full reconstruction is required in order to adequately address the instability of the slope, which at its current rate of degradation will likely require a full closure of the southbound lanes less than 10 years.”

The project is in its final design phase and PennDOT intends to reconstruct the aforementioned section, to widen the shoulders, stabilize the slopes realign the four substandard curves and install new retains walls and fix culverts.

Before the pandemic hit, more than 19,000 vehicles travel the road daily, the letter says. A recent number was not provided.