Road restrictions in Pittsburgh area getting lifted as construction goes into a winter hiatus
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A major step forward for one of our area's biggest road construction projects of the year has come.
A summer-long lane restriction on the Parkway East has been lifted and there's more to come.
We're in the construction wind-down phase as winter approaches and the first beneficiary is the Parkway East.
As of Thursday morning, the summer-long lane closure on the Parkway East outbound from Churchill to Monroeville has been lifted.
"That's good news, you know this is to get through the winter season," said Doug Thompson, PennDOT District 11 Assistant Executive of Construction.
The lifting of the inbound lane closure isn't far behind, with Thompson saying that it will be back to three lanes "by the end of next week."
There will also be a bit of ramp work here and there but all of the main road construction will soon be on winter break.
"[Until] late March, early April, that timeframe, we'll be starting to get out there," Thompson explained.
Meanwhile, under the Commercial Street Bridge, work has begun on its reconstruction.
"We've started to create some access roads from the top down to the bottom," he said. "We're doing a lot of that work in preparation for this winter. In January, we'll start actually constructing our foundations for the new bridge and the temporary bridge."
Come March, look for overnight to 2 p.m., single-lane traffic coming out of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel.
"Between the actual tunnel and the current bridge, we're wadding out that shoulder and building a retaining wall," Thompson said.
Also, up on McKnight Road, only the right, southbound lane remains unfinished.
"Come November 22, we're into a winter hiatus for that project," he said.
In late January, they'll finish up the southbound lane, and then in March, McKnight Road will go down to a single lane in each direction across the Babcock Boulevard Bridge during its reconstruction for about five weeks.
If you drive 79, you'll be happy to know it's about wrapped up from Crafton to the Ohio River, but the work from Moon-Crafton to the Parkway West will continue until the end of the year and then pick up again in the spring to finish up.
One thing that's put these projects on a fast track this year has been the warm weather, giving them time to get more done this fall than they expected, meaning less work in 2025.