An eight-mile stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike will be closed for about five hours starting at midnight Saturday between the New Stanton and Irwin interchanges.

The restriction is necessary while a contractor implodes the two-lane Glenn Fox Road overpass at Milepost 74.2 in Hempfield and then cleans the debris off of the toll road. The turnpike will replace the overpass with a longer, two-span bridge by Thanksgiving in order to accommodate future widening of the turnpike to three lanes in both directions.

During the closure, traffic will be detoured using Route 30 and the Greensburg Bypass/Toll 66, the shortest route between the two points.

Meanwhile, single-lane traffic patterns will be established in the vicinity of the blasting site Friday through early next week.

J.F. Shea Construction, of Mount Pleasant, was awarded a $6.4 million contract for the bridge replacement project that began in March.