Major upgrades to McKnight Road postponed until further notice
UPDATE: On Feb. 9, PennDOT said work will be postponed until further notice.
It's the second time PennDOT is postponing the work. It had been pushed back to Feb. 12, but now PennDOT said because of the weather forecast and cold overnight temperatures, crews won't be out. More information will be released when work is planned to begin.
The previous story is below.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Taking advantage of a milder-than-normal start to the year, construction crews are going to get a jump on a major road project.
Beginning on Monday, an extensive upgrade of McKnight Road will get underway.
That project will last more than a year.
We're talking about the heart of McKnight Road, from the Venture Street entrance ramp through Ross Township to Perrymount in McCandless.
It's been about 15 years since PennDOT gave McKnight Road a major upgrade so in addition to new asphalt, the center, mountable curbs that are crumbling will also get service.
"Those will be replaced, there will be guide rail work, there's bridge work, there's signal work, there is a lot of work," explained PennDOT District 11 Executive Jason Zang.
Where the mountable curb work is being done, two lanes will be maintained in both directions, but according to Zang, on the section from the Parkway North to Babcock, there will be slowdowns.
"That's the only time we're taking," he said. "[We're] taking it down to one lane now."
Zang said especially through the business district, which is most of it, the work will be carefully choreographed to keep drivers and businesses in mind.
"It's a really tough corridor to work in," he said.
So, they're going to try to stay out of your way.
"The good news is a lot of the work is going to be done at night, the majority of it, but there's a lot of work that can't just be done at night," Zang explained.
Included in this project is major work on the bridge over Babcock Boulevard, but the construction won't be in the entire area, all at once. It will be in sections, chunks at a time.
It's expected to begin on Monday and finish by early next year.