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PennDOT: New Hulton Bridge Will Open In October

OAKMONT (KDKA) -- There is big news for drivers who use the Hulton Bridge.

PennDOT says the newly-constructed span will be open to traffic starting on Tuesday, Oct. 20. But before that happens there will be two weeks when drivers have to deal detours.

The new bridge is approximately 1,600 feet long, 69 feet wide, has a six-foot shoulder and will carry two 11-foot lanes of traffic in each direction.

PennDOT will be shutting the old Hulton Bridge down for good at the end of the day on Oct. 4. After a two-week period, the new bridge will then open to traffic.

The detour for those two weeks is about six-miles in any direction to get to another bridge.

"We're hoping commuters will have a big sigh of relief. Obviously, construction traffic has been a big challenge for them, but the motorists have been very patient. The think the excitement, the anticipation of seeing this new structure rise out of the ground right beside the old has kept people understanding the delays they've been dealing with construction," said PennDOT's Steve Cowan. "But we would expect the average motorist to see a 20 to 40 percent reduction in their travel time as they approach the bridge till they get to the other side, and we think that's significant."

The old Hulton Bridge was built in 1908. And with the opening of the new structure next month, it will no longer be needed, so it will be demolished in 2016.

Construction on the new bridge began in September of 2013 and the project cost $65.7 million.

In a press release, PennDOT Secretary Leslie S. Richards said: "Bridges are embedded in the fabric of the Pittsburgh region. They stand as testimony to the ingenuity of our transportation planners, engineers and builders in helping every one of us to get to where we need to go with as little trouble as possible. The old Hulton Bridge served this community well for over a century. Come next month, it will be replaced by a modern structure."

The construction project also included work on Freeport Road and Hulton Road.

Stay with KDKA for John Shumway's full reports on this story.

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