PennDOT Announces More Parkway Closures This Weekend
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- There's good news and there's bad news for drivers who use the Parkway West.
The bad news is there will be more closures this weekend for paving work; however, the good news is that once that work is complete, the Parkway West will return to normal.
PennDOT has announced these closures:
From Friday, Dec. 4 at 9 p.m. through Saturday, Dec. 5 at 6 p.m., the inbound side will close from I-79 (Exit 64A) to Parkway Center Drive.
Then, from Saturday, Dec. 5 at 9 p.m. till Sunday, Dec. 6 at 4 p.m., the outbound side will close from the Greentree/Crafton interchange to I-79.
PennDOT has posted these detours to get around the construction area:
Inbound (eastbound):
- Motorists will exit I-376 at the I-79 south (Exit 64A) interchange towards Washington
- Follow I-79 south to the Carnegie (Exit 57) interchange off-ramp
- At the end of the off-ramp, turn left onto West Main Street
- West Main Street becomes Mansfield Boulevard
- Turn right onto Chestnut Street
- Turn left onto East Main Street
- East Main Street becomes Noblestown Road
- Turn right onto Mansfield Avenue
- Turn left onto Greentree Road
- Turn right onto Parkway Center Drive
- Follow to I-376
- End detour
Outbound (westbound):
- Motorists will exit I-376 at the Greentree/Crafton (Exit 67) interchange
- Bear left to north 121 towards Crafton
- Turn left onto Mansfield Avenue (Route 3062)
- Turn left onto Noblestown Road (Route 50)
- Noblestown Road becomes East Main Street
- Turn right onto Jane Street
- Jane Street becomes Mansfield Boulevard
- Mansfield Boulevard becomes West Main Street
- Follow West Main Street to I-79
- Take the ramp to northbound I-79
- Follow northbound I-79 to I-376
- End detour
Drivers can expect significant delays all weekend long.
Once this weekend's work is over, weather-permitting of course, PennDOT says the Parkway West will be returned to its original configuration and the Carnegie interchange will be reopened.
"We'll have the Parkway West in its final configuration from I-79 to the Fort Pitt Tunnel. We'll have the Carnegie interchange completely opened," said PennDOT District 11 spokesman Steve Cowan.
However, PennDOT also says some overnight closures will continue on the Parkway West through Christmas. Also, in the spring, there will have to be another weekend closures for final paving.
On Monday, PennDOT also announced work this week on the Fort Pitt Tunnel and the Parkway West.
Finally, in a double whammy for drivers, the Parkway East is also set to close in both directions this weekend between Oakland and Edgewood.
PennDOT didn't want to have both parkways closed at the same time, but the work on the Parkway West has been backed into a corner by Mother Nature.
"Looking at the weather long range, it just didn't look very good, and this may be our last chance to get this done this year," said Cowan.
This will be the second closure related to the Greenfield Bridge Project.
Crews are dismantling the deck of the old bridge, which will be demolished later this month, during the holiday week.
Click here for full details on the Greenfield Bridge Reconstruction Project.
It's all been carefully scheduled so Steelers fans can get to and from Sunday night's game unimpeded.
But now there's word that Steelers fans might not be so lucky on the Parkway East. The contractor working on the Greenfield Bridge is asking to keep the Parkway closed until Monday morning instead of reopening by 5 p.m. Sunday as previously promised.
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