Ongoing road widening and curve realignment projects on Mount Rose Avenue and connecting East Prospect Road mark just the start of a series of projects aimed at improving traffic flow in the area.

Mount Rose Avenue will be widened between Hartford Road in Springettsbury Township and Chambers Road in York Township next year, said Greg Penny, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

The estimated $4.1 million project will see the road widened to two lanes in each direction with a center turn lane.

A traffic signal at the intersection of Chambers Road and Mount Rose Avenue is scheduled to be removed, Penny said.

Bids for the project are slated to be opened in January, and the project will be completed in spring 2014, he said.

Intersection: A second project will see the intersection of East Prospect Road and Route 24, known locally as Mount Zion and Cape Horn roads, in York Township widened.

The project will tie in with the other two road widening projects.

Work on the estimated $6 million project will begin in the spring and should wrap up in 2014, Penny said.

Interstate 83: The largest, and most costly, of the five projects is the redesign of the Interstate 83 Exit 18 interchange.

The proposed changes would include:

---A loop ramp for eastbound traffic on Mount Rose from I-83 southbound.

---Aligning the northbound off-ramp with Haines Road so drivers won't have to cross two lanes of traffic on Mount Rose to get into the left-turn lane.

---Adding a new ramp so drivers headed east on Mount Rose can enter I-83 northbound without having to make a left turn.

"This project will likely take three construction seasons to complete," Penny said. "In other words, it will likely take until the end of 2017 to finish this interchange project based on the current schedule."

The estimated cost is $56.2 million.

-- Reach Greg Gross at ggross@yorkdispatch.com.