Construction To Resume In Spring For Liberty Bridge, Tunnel & Parkway West
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The New Year is here and in a few months, that means new road construction projects.
For people heading to the South Hills and also west of the city, 2017 will mean more headaches, detours and brake lights.
Whether Phil sees his shadow or not, expect the orange to start blooming in your path come mid-March.
Let's start with the Liberty Bridge, which is heading for another year of work, including getting rid of the wavy ride drivers currently feel.
"By the end of next summer, folks will be enjoying a smooth ride across the Liberty Bridge," PennDOT District 11 Executive Dan Cessna said.
Of course, that means some weekend closures.
"In the neighborhood of six to eight," Cessna said.
Crews will also be finishing the deck upgrades on the last section of the bridge - the narrow part under the Boulevard of the Allies. That will bite into weekday and rush hour traffic.
"So, there is going to be a 14-day closure next summer where we will neck that area down to one lane in each direction and that will be a major consideration for traffic," Cessna said.
Speaking of the Boulevard of the Allies, part of this project is to rehab the road from Grant Street up past the Liberty ramps.
"We are going to have an 80-day closure on the Boulevard of the Allies, where we are basically redoing the entire deck of the Boulevard of the Allies, very similar to what we did on the Liberty Bridge," Cessna said.
During that closure, no traffic will be leaving downtown on the Boulevard, but you'll still have inbound use of the road up to the Crosstown Expressway and the Liberty Bridge.
While all this is going on, there is also work planned in the Liberty Tunnel.
"The good news for motorists is most of it won't be seen by them," Cessna said.
But, it will mean overnight closures and three weekend closures in each direction. However, they will try to coordinate those with the bridge closures.
There's one more Liberty related project coming with March blossoms - the renovation of the West Liberty Interchange outside the Liberty Tubes.
"This will be confusing for motorists. We're going to ask folks to really pay attention," Cessna said.
The overpass needs concrete work and an overlay. So, two lanes of southbound traffic will use the bridge throughout the summer, while all the northbound traffic will be forced off at the Liberty Tunnel exit.
"So, as you can imagine, all that traffic that is separated out of that traffic signal is now going to have to go through that traffic signal," Cessna said.
Which means traffic on the ramp will double, although changes will be made to allow two lanes to continue straight to get back to Saw Mill Run and the light will remain green longer.
"But, the reality is when we move that traffic through on [Route] 51, we're going to be stopping West Liberty Avenue traffic for a longer period of time," Cessna said.
In addition, the ramps onto Route 51 are slated for a facelift as well.
"The ramp coming out of the city to go to [Route] 51 southbound will be closed for 13 days and the ramp that comes from West Liberty to also go to southbound will be closed for 11 days," Cessna said.
The ramp closings and restrictions will be changing all summer.
Meanwhile, the work on the airport expressway will be expanding this year. There will be the completion of the southbound side.
"We will have a 30-day closure to the ramp to the airport if you're heading in the eastbound direction," Cessna said.
It means you'll have to continue to McClaren Road, get off and back on westbound to the airport. This year, the project will extend to Montour Run Road.
"We will have temporary controls in place taking the three lanes down to two, maintaining the two lanes basically the entire time," Cessna said.
Half the Montour project will happen this year, while the other half happens in 2018.
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