Rebuilding the first eight miles of the original Pennsylvania Turnpike between Irwin and New Stanton from the ground up is proving neither cheap nor easy.

Besides wedging six lanes and a wider median mostly into a narrow 200-foot-wide corridor acquired in the 1930s, engineers also must cope with up to 40,000 cars and trucks a day whizzing by at 55 mph -- when drivers obey the speed limit, that is.

They're also dealing with suburban housing developments and a multitude of utilities that didn't exist when the highway was first built, amazingly in less than two years, using abandoned railroad rights-of-way through rural, wooded terrain.

Strict environmental and community standards mean building "noise walls" and hiding the toll road from local view. Not just any walls, but walls with aesthetic-looking architectural facades.

"It's like holding a wedding in your back yard while you're trying to mow the grass," turnpike spokesman Joe Agnello said.

Irwin and its uniquely configured interchange off Route 30 marked the western end of the original turnpike, which opened to traffic 68 years ago. Most of the old concrete slabs remain, blanketed by layers of asphalt.

The current estimated total cost of the improvement between Irwin and New Stanton is $207.2 million, more than three times what it cost to build the entire 160 miles of the nation's first superhighway, between Irwin and Carlisle, in 1939-40.

It's one of the most expensive reconstruction projects in turnpike history and is taking six years despite relatively flat land, powerful equipment and modern engineering techniques.

Turnpike officials spent years and $15.5 million to plan and design the reconstruction and $3 million to acquire five homes, two businesses, one 56-acre farm and part of 68 other properties because, in some places, 200 feet wasn't wide enough.

Then utilities were relocated at a cost of $2.4 million.

The Hempfield Service Plaza along the eastbound lanes was permanently closed and numerous improvements were made around the New Stanton Interchange, including construction of a longer deceleration/exit lane in place of the old one that posed safety problems.

A half-dozen overpasses carrying local traffic have been rebuilt, or are in the process of being rebuilt, to accommodate the wider highway beneath them, starting in March 2006 with the Madison Road bridge.

John Pavlovich, of North Huntingdon, a 22-year turnpike engineer, has overseen construction from the start as project manager.

"The biggest challenge? The tight space we're working in while trying to maintain two lanes of traffic in both directions," he said. "I've worked on other turnpike reconstruction projects [New Stanton to Donegal], but none through such a densely populated area."

Besides the new overpasses, the most visible work taking place lies between Mileposts 70 and 72, where 2 million cubic yards of a hillside are being removed so part of the old toll road can be realigned to eliminate two troublesome curves.

Traffic has been stopped for up to 15 minutes at a time about 10 times so far, and will continue to be stopped no more than once a day through March, while the contractor blasts rock to facilitate the excavation.

Mr. Pavlovich said the full impact of the project will be felt starting next summer, when the old roadway will be torn out. The final construction contract to create three 12-foot-wide lanes each way and a 26-foot-wide median has been estimated to cost $125 million and take until late 2011 to complete.

The turnpike is in the midst of a similar widening and reconstruction covering five miles of the original Irwin-Carlisle stretch just west of Carlisle. That $61.7 million project through mostly farmland is scheduled for completion a year from now.