In early July, Butler County officials put U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick on a Butler Transit Authority bus. They drove him from Cranberry Township out to Harbison Road in Middlesex Township and back. Along the way he saw the new housing and businesses in Seven Fields and Adams Township, the two-lane portion of the road, and the bottlenecks where traffic slows. According to the Butler Eagle, at one point he asked, "This used to be all farms?"
That question explains where Route 228 stands in Adams Township this fall. The eastern end, out past Mars Valencia Road, is in its final weeks of construction. The middle stretch has no construction money yet. That's the part through Myoma Road and Seven Fields Boulevard, where the farms gave way to the most development. The same growth that made widening urgent there has also pushed up its price.
The east end is in its final stretch
PennDOT District 10's Three Degree Road Intersection Project covers Route 228 from Mars Valencia Road to Davis Road, across Adams and Middlesex townships. Final nighttime paving was scheduled for July 22 through 31, running 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. with one-lane flagging. The contractor is Independence Excavating, Inc. of Independence, Ohio. PennDOT puts the project at $55.8 million and expects it to be done in November 2026. PennDOT's Route 228 corridor project page still shows November as the end month, so the wrap-up should come within weeks of this post.
The scope goes well beyond repaving. It adds through lanes and turn lanes, side road improvements, service roads for access control, drainage and guide rail upgrades, new signals, sidewalks, ADA ramps and a roundabout. Of all of it, the jughandles are the change drivers feel most every day.
How a left turn works on the finished section
PennDOT's design for this part of 228 cuts down the places where drivers turn left across traffic. Left turn lanes along the corridor are being "consolidated and removed wherever feasible." The first big example was Davis Road in Middlesex Township, where the eastbound center left turn lane and median opening were closed off on April 6 after jughandles opened at Officer Edward Brooks Drive and Harbison Road.
Here's how the system works, based on PennDOT's March 27 notice:
- At a signalized intersection, you can still turn left or right under the signal. These are the only places on the corridor where left turns are allowed.
- At an unsignalized side road on the far side of 228, use a jughandle to reverse direction on Route 228.
- Once you're headed the other way, the side road is a right turn.
- Watch for added signs on 228 that point to the jughandles and show how to re-enter the highway from them.
PennDOT says the goal is fewer conflict points, the spots where turning cars cross paths with oncoming traffic, and more regulated traffic flow. The trade-off for drivers is a short detour in exchange for no longer waiting in a center lane with traffic coming at them.
The middle 3.2 miles are the ones still waiting
The section between those finished ends is the one many Adams Township drivers use every day. PennDOT calls the last remaining segment Mars Railroad Bridge West. It runs 3.2 miles from Franklin Road to west of Pittsburgh Street and includes intersection upgrades and widening through Seven Fields, Adams Township and Cranberry Township.
At a roundtable at the Cranberry Township Municipal Center on Wednesday, Oct. 14, Alice Hammond, assistant District 10 executive of design, said pre-construction funding is complete. Construction still needs another $102 million. Butler County has secured $45 million in federal grants so far. Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Mike Carroll said recent efforts to win federal money for the final section had failed. He added that PennDOT will contribute, but how much depends on whether the county lands federal grants in a future round of applications. The Cranberry Eagle reported all of this.
The two segments compare like this:
| Three Degree Road project | Mars Railroad Bridge West | |
|---|---|---|
| Limits | Mars Valencia Road to Davis Road | Franklin Road to west of Pittsburgh Street |
| Municipalities | Adams, Middlesex | Cranberry, Seven Fields, Adams |
| Money | $55.8 million project | $102 million still needed for construction, as of Oct. 14, 2026 |
| Timing | Completion anticipated November 2026 | Construction start projected for December 2027, finish in 2030, as reported in July 2026 |
| Signature features | Jughandles, service roads, a roundabout | Four through lanes, a 16-foot median, a roundabout south of 228 |
That December 2027 start comes from the Butler Eagle's July coverage. It came before the latest federal funding attempt fell short, so treat it as the schedule if the money arrives, not a commitment.
Why the busiest stretch costs the most
Butler County Commissioner Leslie Osche gave the reason at the October roundtable, as quoted in the Cranberry Eagle:
"It's probably one of the most expensive segments. That's because of the development on those sides of the road that have already occurred, which has increased the value of property."
So the homes, offices and storefronts that filled in along 228 through Seven Fields and Adams are what made widening urgent. They're also what drove up the cost of the land and access changes the widening needs. The eastern Three Degree segment ran through less built-up ground and is finishing first.
The county is pitching the project as more than a commuter fix. Officials told McCormick that economic activity along the Route 228 corridor has reached roughly $30 billion in yearly GDP. The project area takes in 12,500 businesses and connects 40,000 jobs. In June, the county and PennDOT jointly applied for just under $51 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation's INFRA program. According to the county's application, finishing the segment would create a fully connected route between Interstate 79 and State Route 8.
What the plans show at Myoma Road and Seven Fields Boulevard
The most detailed public description of the middle segment comes from the benefit-cost analysis prepared for the county's federal grant applications. Final design is still underway, so these details could change. As of that analysis:
- Main road. Four 11-foot through lanes, two each way, with a 16-foot median, 10-foot shoulders, and turn lanes at selected intersections.
- Adams Ridge Boulevard. Limited to right-in/right-out, with median islands and an extra through lane each way.
- Myoma Road. An eastbound left-turn/through lane, a westbound right-turn/through lane, and a southbound left-turn lane onto 228.
- Seven Fields Boulevard. An added through lane in each direction on 228.
- Heritage Creek Drive and Scharberry Lane. A single-lane roundabout south of 228. Drivers heading east on 228 toward Fox Trot Drive would turn around there instead of turning left.
- Beaver Street Extension. Moved about 700 feet east, with a signalized jughandle that serves Beaver Street and lets drivers turn around in both directions on 228. The Mars Alliance Church driveway would become right-in/right-out, with access through Roxsan Drive and Myoma Road.
So the turning pattern drivers are learning on the east end is the one planned for the middle too. Once the middle is funded and built, drivers there would make fewer direct left turns and more turnarounds.
Building along 228 keeps outpacing the road
Businesses haven't waited for the widening. Chick-fil-A Mars, at 600 Holden Drive along Route 228, held its ribbon cutting on Sept. 30 and opened Thursday, Oct. 1, according to The 228 Times. Owner-operator Josh Grimm came back to the Pittsburgh area after seven years running a Chick-fil-A near Philadelphia. The restaurant has a dedicated Mobile Thru drive-thru lane, an indoor playground, and just over 100 employees hired before opening. Its location page lists hours of 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, with dine-in, carry-out and delivery ending at 9 p.m. It's closed Sundays.
Next door at Adams Corners, Adams Township supervisors approved a land development plan on March 23 for a 7,951-square-foot building with a 2,385-square-foot Chipotle and a Chipotlane, the Butler Eagle reported.
At Adams Town Center, where Nelson Kitchen & Bath and Supremo's Pizzeria already operate, developer Ray Nelson told supervisors the same night that he plans a Dunkin' in the front of a new building with a Back Nine Golf indoor simulator behind it. He said he hoped the Dunkin' would open in September. He was also at the meeting to subdivide the property for a planned new road through the parcel. He said a Jimmy John's that had once been planned there was no longer coming because "the cost of building the project outweighed the income," according to the Butler Eagle.
Those projects fit the pattern Osche described. Every new building and driveway along 228 makes the corridor busier, and it adds to what the remaining road work will cost.
The calendar from here
For an Adams Township driver, the rest of 2026 and beyond looks like this:
- November 2026. PennDOT's anticipated finish for the Three Degree Road project between Mars Valencia Road and Davis Road.
- A future federal grant round. The next chance to close the $102 million gap on the Mars Railroad Bridge West segment, and the round PennDOT's own contribution depends on.
- December 2027 to 2030. The construction window reported in July 2026, if funding comes through.
The corridor's earlier phases show the pace. PennDOT's Balls Bend safety project in Middlesex Township, a five-lane realignment with four new structures, started in February 2021 and finished in January 2025 at a cost of $26.55 million. At that pace, even a funded middle segment means several more construction seasons through Seven Fields and Adams.
If you own a home near Myoma Road, Seven Fields Boulevard or the Beaver Street Extension, the Route 228 timeline belongs in any conversation about what your property is worth and when to sell. Pittsburgh Property Shark follows the corridor parcel by parcel, and Kelly Cheponis can show you how nearby sales have priced in finished and unfinished stretches of 228. Get Your Instant Home Valuation, then let's talk about where your street sits on the construction calendar.
