PennDOT Plans Road Closures, Bridge Repairs For 2015
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) –PennDOT crews made much progress in 2014, but a host of projects are slated to begin or continue in 2015.
Now, that Route 28 is up and running PennDOT will turn its attention to an area of the North Side between Route 28 and East Street.
"So, we'll be tearing the old concrete out, the pavement is pretty bad in that area, and we'll be replacing it with brand new concrete," Dan Cessna said.
And it's not a small area either.
Expect all of East Ohio Street from East Street to Route 28 to become a single lane in each direction during the work and look for the ramp to Route 28 to close for a while.
Plus, Madison Street and East Street, that run along the sides of the Parkway North, will also be rebuilt. The work starts when the weather breaks and will extend into 2016.
2015 is going to be a big year for drivers in the Oakmont area too.
Drivers will be using the new Hulton Bridge before the year is out, but not before some more work is done.
"[Late summer] is when we will close the Hulton Bridge for several weeks at a minimum up to a month to create the new connections to the new bridge," Cessna said.
That will make for a tough detour since there's no river crossing even close, but the new bridge will open in October.
Some long needed bridge repair work is on the way for McKnight Road and it will make for some challenging driving from Outback Steakhouse to the Wexford Flats.
"We will have some long term lane closures in that area where we will restrict traffic to one lane in each direction rather than two," Cessna said.
There are three bridges in that stretch that are in desperate need of new concrete, including the bridge over Ingomar, Pine Creek and the bridge that is the ramp from southbound Route 19 onto McKnight Road.
"That work will go from next year in the summer through into 2016," Cessn said.
Another full year of work is ahead for West Carson Street from the city to McKees Rocks, where they've run into an issue or two. The original plan would have fully reopened the road by the end of 2015
"We could expect to still have detours through the spring of 2016," Cessna said.
But, there is good news.
"You're going to start to see new concrete being placed, new barrier and other things that will make it start to look like you can see the end," Cessna said.
The reconstruction of Route 50 from Bridgeville to the Washington County line kicks into high gear in the coming year.
On this heavily traveled stretch, half of the road will be shut down at a time for the work, while traffic uses a single lane in each direction on the other side.
"When it's completed, there will be an entirely new concrete road," Cessna said.
Driving the Triboro Bridge, you've had plenty of orange to dance around the past couple of years and 2015 won't be quite as disruptive.
"Now, we're going to be going in and repainting the steel that wasn't painted during the original reconstruction," Cessna said.
The rehabilitate of the Birmingham Bridge will be much more disruptive in 2015 as the expansion dams are replaced, which will force multiple lane closures.
Unfortunately, 2015 won't be the end of it.
"Ultimately, in 2016, we would expect to get the bulk of the work done," Cessna said.
You May Also Be Interested In These Latest News Stories
Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter
