PennDOT To Work On Route 65 In 2016
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – PennDOT has a full plate of major road projects coming in 2016.
The biggest project will be the major reconstruction of the Liberty Bridge, but the second biggest job will be more work on Route 65 from the McKees Rocks Bridge to the Allegheny River. Construction will start on that stretch on March 1.
Whether you're commuting to work downtown or going to see the Pirates, a concert at Heinz Field or the Steelers next fall, the work in 2016 on Route 65 will impact you as PennDOT works on that stretch from the Fort Duquesne Bridge to the McKees Rocks Bridge.
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Yes, they just finished that work at Marshall Avenue. Consider this Route 65 2.0. And if you drive the stretch from the Rocks Bridge to town, you know it needs a face lift.
"So basically, now we're going in and picking up a couple of smaller bridges and doing an asphalt overlay of the entire pavement," said PennDOT Dist. 11 executive Dan Cessna.
A couple of smaller bridges makes it sound so simple, but… maybe not.
"We are talking about bridge deck removal," Cessna said. "If actually study those bridges, if you drive under any of those, you know they are in need of repair."
So those bridges will get everything new from the steel up, but let's talk about how it will affect your drive.
"There's going to be two lanes maintained between West End Bridge and Fort Duquesne Bridge in the area where there's three lanes in that area," Cessna explained.
But here's where it's going to get tight.
"And from West End towards McKees Rocks, there will be long periods of time when we will have single lane restrictions," Cessna said.
Because the westbound side of that stretch is the primary detour for the West Carson Street project, they won't actually start the lane restrictions westbound until the West Carson job is done, and that's expected to be somewhere around the 4th of July.
That means there will be single lanes on Route 65 through the second half of the Pirates season and all of the Steelers schedule next fall, and the Route 65 work will extend into the 2017 construction season as well.