PennDOT Releases Road Improvement Projects For 2014
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- PennDOT is revealing its plans for your money.
Those higher fees for drivers are going help foot the bill for 250 transportation projects statewide, nearly two dozen of them right here in southwestern Pennsylvania.
The rehabilitation of the Birmingham Bridge, from the steel on up, will take $40 to $42 million and two years to complete.
"This project is looking at extending the life of Birmingham for 30 to 40 years," said Dan Cessna, PennDOT's District 11 executive.
Also making the list for the new funding, replacement of the deteriorating RIDC Park Alpha Drive Bridge over Route 28 this summer
"There would be times when parts of the bridge are removed that we would restrict traffic on 28 overnights, weekends, things like that, but no major lane closures during normal travel times," Cessna said.
The fractured 9-year-old pavement of I-79 from Bridgeville to the Parkway West is getting about $3 million of the new dollars, with a new surface going down on nights and weekends this summer.
In fact, it's paving that is getting the lion share of the new-found dollars, like Allegheny River Boulevard from Washington Boulevard out to Sandy Creek.
The overall paving needs far outweigh the funds, forcing PennDOT to choose carefully.
"We look at a lot of data with regard to the conditions of the highways, and that tells us what we should look at," Cessna said.
After that, it's visual inspections and complaints. Places like Perry Highway in Ross Township and McCandless made the cut, and so did large sections of Route 910 on either side of Route 8.
Along with Chartiers and Island Avenues in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania Avenue in White Oak, McKeesport Boulevard in North Versailles, Ingomar Road in North Park, Greentree Road and Freeport Road in O'Hara Township from Powers Run to Blawnox.
The paving work could start soon.
"I would say in the month of April you are going to see some roads resurfaced, and hard at it in May," Cessna said.
Click here to see a list of all the projects in Allegheny County.
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