PennDOT Gearing Up For Another Busy Road Construction Season
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Now that the season has turned from winter to spring, road construction crews are gearing up for a busy season.
The first major shut down involves the Boulevard of the Allies closing for 80 days of reconstruction leading up to the Liberty Bridge. That comes next week when the calendar turns to April.
But it's the closing of the ramp from the Crosstown to the Boulevard and on to the Parkway East that could cause some real headaches as 18,000 drivers detour around the Point the first full week of April.
"So, there will be an approximately nine or 10 day closure," PennDOT Assistant District Executive Jim Foringer.
Work on the Liberty Bridge this summer will involve a host of weekend closings.
Foringer says crews will be finishing "the latex wearing surface and provide a smooth ride."
The lane closure, now in effect on Route 65 going out of the city, is a rough ride that's not going away soon.
"The configurations that exist outbound will be in place throughout the majority of this construction season," PennDOT District 11 District Executive Dan Cessna said.
Preliminary work got underway Monday on the biggest project of the summer - the Parkway North. Where the cross over is being built just north of Camp Horne Road, on April 8, southbound traffic will have to split either into a local lane or cross over into an express lane.
"A local lane meaning that I can still use all the available exits, the express lane would be that you will have access to no exits," said Cessna.
The express lane will be on the northbound side until it re-merges with the other southbound lane in the HOV lane at Perrysville for the ride into the city.
The McKnight entrance ramp will form a single lane all the way through the East Street valley. And without the HOV lanes in the afternoon, Cessna says, "We would expect afternoon commute times to increase for motorist exiting the city."