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PLAINS TWP. &mdash; Traffic may soon return to normal for motorists who use the off ramp at Exit 3 of the North Cross Valley Expressway in Plains Township.
				Repairs to the ramp are expected to be competed this week and the exit will reopen on Friday afternoon, Sept. 18, PennDOT said Monday.
				In early August, John Farrell, project manager, who is Transportation Construction Manager for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation&rsquo;s engineering office in Dunmore, said the project was ahead of schedule. He said the completion date was listed in the contract as July 17, 2021. However, Farrell said &ldquo;the contractor was working to open the off ramp from Route 309 southbound to River Street on Sept. 18, 2020.&rdquo;
				Farrell also said all paving will be completed and all ancillary work should be completed by Nov. 20, 2020.
				Total cost of the project, including the replacement of 45 bearings, will be approximately $13.5 million, Farrell said.
				The heavily used off-ramp on the southbound lane of the North Cross Valley Expressway closed in early 2019. Construction crews have been removing and replacing the bridge deck and walls and will also paint beams and girders, according to PennDOT.
				A detour has been in place that takes motorists to Exit 2 (Wilkes-Barre/Center City) to Wilkes-Barre Boulevard, where temporary traffic signals have been installed. The detour directs motorists to access River Street in Plains Township by turning onto Wilkes-Barre Boulevard and then get back on the North Cross Valley Expressway back to Plains Township.
				A special provision was made for emergency vehicles that allows an exit via a newly constructed temporary off-ramp that utilizes the shoulder of the on-ramp from River Street to Route 309. Emergency responders travel against the normal flow of traffic, but concrete barriers separate the lanes.
				At the beginning of the project, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital officials and emergency responders said they were worried about how the project would limit hospital access, especially given the ramp closure coinciding with an unrelated sewer project that was beginning on River Street south of the hospital at the same time.
				The North Cross Valley Expressway on-ramp at River Street in Plains Township was repaired earlier.
				The on-ramp reopening marked the return of easier travel for those working on the Wilkes-Barre side of the river who live on the West Side or in the Back Mountain.

Exit 3 off North Cross Valley Expressway scheduled to open Friday