Major Parkway East Paving Project Coming Up With Closures, Detours
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- That shaking in the steering wheel and the jarring bumps you feel when you drive down the Parkway East are the results of a lot of Pittsburgh winters.
"This section is at 13 years old, so it definitely is in need of new pavement," says PennDOT Dist. 11 Executive Cheryl Moon-Sirianni.
So the repaving of the Parkway East from the Fort Pitt Bridge to Swissvale is about the start.
The first phase will begin Aug. 10 with the crews laying down the new asphalt from the Fort Pitt Bridge to the Boulevard of the Allies eastbound that weekend. Then they will do the westbound side the following weekend.
During the paving operations, traffic will be restricted to a single lane so traffic delays are likely.
"It won't be until September until we have some free non-event weekends to be doing the other paving," Moon-Sirianni said.
That work will be from the Boulevard to Swissvale. That part of the project is expected to occur one weekend in late September and two in October.
Weather permitting, all the new asphalt will be down by Halloween.
But the asphalt is the least complicated part of this work. Expansion dams are the connection between sections of elevated roadway and all of them on the nine-and-a-half mile stretch of parkway are going to be replaced.
The expansion dams are steel and stretch across all lanes of the parkway.
"So we're going to have to close down the whole parkway in one direction when we replace those dams," Moon-Sirianni said.
In fact, the contractor is authorized to shut down the parkway a section at a time to replace the expansion dams, not to exceed 10 weekend closures. The first two closures will come this year.
"Most of that work's going to have to occur in November. We're probably going to see if we can do a long-term lane closure the day after Christmas, for three or four days at that time," Moon-Sirianni said.
If that Christmas work happens, some of the eight weekend total closures for next year may be avoided.
"We are never going to close eastbound and westbound at the same time," she said.
All the weekend closures will be orchestrated to avoid major events like games and concerts.
Meanwhile farther out on the Parkway East, the work from Swissvale to Monroeville is expected to wrap up by the end of August.
And Parkway North drivers will be pleased to hear the work there is heading towards a return to normal in early September.