This traffic improvement comes with syrup.

A group of dignitaries broke ground yesterday for $2.9 million in intersection improvements on Browns Hill Road, designed to serve an expansion of the Summerset at Frick Park neighborhood.

But much of the talk was about another beneficiary of the project -- a soon-to-be-built IHOP restaurant at the Walnut Place retail development on Browns Hill.

It would be only the second IHOP in the area -- the other is in Robinson. Anthony J. Dolan, principal for Walnut Capital Acquisitions, said the restaurant has generated more interest than any other of his company's many retail ventures.

Construction of the restaurant will start in the fall and take three to four months, said Craig Dunham, managing general partner of Summerset Land Development Associates.

IHOP spokesman Dan Ischy confirmed the location yesterday, but said the company could say only that it expects to open sometime next year.

Walnut Capital and Summerset Land Development contributed $570,000 toward the forthcoming intersection improvements, at Old Browns Hill Road, Imogene Street and Walnut Place.

Browns Hill Road's current intersection with Old Browns Hill Road will be rebuilt as a new connection with Parkview Boulevard, with separate turning lanes in both directions.

Parkview Boulevard will link to phase two of the Summerset development, which will have 125 new homes, 132 apartments and 30,000 square feet of retail.

The intersection of Browns Hill Road and Imogene Street also will be reconstructed, with left turning lanes in both directions. The other piece of the road work is an entrance from Browns Hill to the retail development.

The project is expected to begin in July and be completed late this year or early next year.

It is the first of several planned intersection improvements along Browns Hill Road and Beechwood Boulevard, currently a congested link between the Parkway East and the Homestead Grays Bridge.

A $3.9 million project to rebuild the intersections at Hazelwood Avenue/Beechwood Boulevard, Beechwood and Lilac Street and Beechwood and Monitor Street may start next year.

It will add turning lanes, new sidewalks and lighting and better traffic signals.