Inbound lanes of Parkway West to close nightly through mid-September for Rosslyn Road Bridge repairs
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Anytime you talk about shutting down one of our area's Parkways, it gets everyone's attention.
A major project will get underway Friday night and it means that a stretch of the inbound lanes of the Parkway West will be closed during overnight hours until the middle of September.
A crash in February led to a gash that is on the side of the Rosslyn Road Bridge. The bridge was struck by an over-height vehicle and while it appears that a little bit of paint can fix things, looks can be deceiving.
"The vertical plates have been badly damaged and warped and out of alignment. And then the bottom flange part of the steel has been, it's been torn, it's mangled. So we basically have to restore the strength of that girder," said Jason Zang, Assistant District Executive for PennDOT's District 11.
The damage to the bridge is so significant that the bridge hasn't been able to reopen since the crash in February.
"This is a primary load carrying member of the bridge and if you lose that member, you lose the bridge," Zang said.
The repair is extremely complicated and can't be rushed.
"If you're not careful, you can have cracks down the road," Zang said.
And there's only one way to do the work.
"The damage is right over the roadway. So there'll be pulling under there with scaffolding and manlifts and things like that to do the work, so that's why the Parkway can't be open while we do it. We have to be on the Parkway to do the work," Zang said.
The inbound lanes will be closed every night starting Friday night and will remain closed overnight through mid-September.
While it has been over six months since the bridge was damaged, repairs were delayed by supply chain issues related to PennDOT being able to get the steel that they needed.
The roadway will close on Friday night at 9 p.m. and will reopen at 10 a.m. pm Saturday.
On Saturdays and Sundays, the roadway will reopen at 10 a.m., but Monday through Friday, it will reopen at 6 a.m.
This closure will go into effect every night until repairs are completed, except for over Labor Day weekend.
PennDOT has provided the following detour routes:
Eastbound I-376 (Parkway West) Detour
From eastbound (inbound) I-376, motorists will exit I-376 at the I-79 south (Exit 64A) interchange towards Washington
Follow I-79 south to the Carnegie (Exit 57) interchange off-ramp
- At the end of the off-ramp, turn left onto West Main Street
West Main Street becomes Mansfield Boulevard
Turn right onto Chestnut Street
Turn left onto Academy Street
Take the ramp to East 376 toward Pittsburgh
End detour
Northbound I-79 Detour
From northbound I-79, take the Carnegie (Exit 57) off-ramp (This exit is prior to the I-376 interchange)
Turn right onto West Main Street
West Main Street becomes Mansfield Boulevar
Turn right onto Chestnut Stree
Turn left onto Academy Stree
Take the ramp to East 376 toward Pittsburg
End detour
Southbound I-79 Detour
From southbound I-79, continue past the closed ramp to I-376
Follow I-79 south to the Carnegie (Exit 57) interchange off-ramp
At the end of the off-ramp, turn left onto West Main Street
West Main Street becomes Mansfield Boulevard
Turn right onto Chestnut Street
Turn left onto Academy Street
Take the ramp to East 376 toward Pittsburgh
End detour
