Year-Long Ninth Street Bridge Closure Begins In February

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A year-long closure of the Ninth Street Bridge will begin in February.

The Department of Public Works announced Monday that the bridge will close to vehicle and pedestrian traffic starting at 6 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 11.

The closure is expected to last through summer 2020. Traffic will be detoured using the Seventh Street Bridge and Isabella Street.

While the bridge is closed, crews will work on a new concrete deck, structural steel repairs, bridge lighting replacement, sidewalk replacement and bridge expansion dam and drainage system replacements. The bridge will also be painted.

When the bridge reopens, it will have three lanes of traffic with wider shoulders instead of four lanes of traffic with two lanes in each direction.

The construction is part of a $23.3 million rehabilitation project. This is the second rehabilitation project of the city's three "Sister Bridges."

The Seventh Street Bridge was closed in August 2016 and reopened in November 2017. Rehabilitation of the Sixth Street Bridge is expected to happen between summer 2021 and winter 2022.

The Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the North Shore and Downtown will remain open near the bridge for the duration of the construction.