5 day forecast
PennDOT advises drivers to prepare for road closings
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The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, Pennsylvania Turnpike and Port Authority all are putting up roadblocks that could affect weekend travelers.
The ramps that connect the inbound Fort Duquesne Bridge to the outbound Fort Pitt Bridge and the Parkway East will be closed from 10 p.m. today to 5 a.m. Monday for resurfacing. Inbound traffic on the Fort Duquesne Bridge will be required to use the off-ramps to Fort Duquesne Boulevard and the 10th Street Bypass.
PennDOT suggests that those from the north wishing to get to the Parkway West or Parkway East use Route 65, the West End Bridge and the West End Bypass as a detour. Traffic bound for the Parkway East must use the loop at the Banksville interchange to turn around and head inbound through the Fort Pitt Tunnel.
That could be complicated by weekend construction on Banksville Road, which will reduce traffic to one lane in both directions from the parkway to Carnahan Road and Wenzell Avenue from 8 p.m. today to 6 a.m. Monday.
Also closed for the weekend are the 10th Street Bypass-Fort Duquesne Boulevard ramps to the Fort Pitt Bridge. The suggested detour is to take a left at Stanwix Street and follow it to the on-ramp to the Fort Pitt Bridge approach.
The work is part of an $8.7 million, one-year project to smooth the connections from Downtown to various interstate highways.
PennDOT is warning of major delays on Route 50 at the bridge crossing Chartiers Creek between Prestley Road and the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center. Crews will be repairing and resurfacing it and traffic will be in an alternating one-way pattern at times from 8 p.m. today to 5 a.m. Monday.
Nearby, work will begin on Prestley Road in Collier and Bridgeville on Wednesday. Drainage, milling and paving will occur from Route 50 to Thoms Run Road, with alternating one-way traffic in work areas from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. weekdays and from 6 p.m. Fridays through 6 a.m. Mondays, until late August.
Traffic on the northbound side of the Veterans Bridge at the approach to the Parkway North will be reduced to one lane, beginning at the off-ramp to Route 28, from 8 p.m. today to 6 a.m. Monday for expansion dam replacement.
Traffic on inbound Route 28 will be reduced to a single lane from the former Millvale Industrial Park to the East Ohio Street exit from 8 p.m. today to approximately 6 p.m. Saturday as crews install caissons for retaining wall construction.
The Pennsylvania Turnpike will be closed in both directions between Irwin (Exit 67) and Monroeville (Exit 57) from 11:59 p.m. Saturday through 5 a.m. Sunday, weather permitting, to accommodate bridge beam erection. The detour is 22 miles long via Route 22, Turnpike 66 and Route 30. Local traffic using Route 130 in Penn Township between midnight and 5 a.m. will encounter short-term stoppages between Nike Site Road and Pleasant Valley Road.
Route 88 in South Park and Bethel Park will be milled and repaved starting Wednesday. Affected is the section from the Washington County line to the South Park entrance at Corrigan Drive. Restrictions will include alternating one-way traffic from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 6 p.m. Fridays to 6 a.m. Sundays through late August.
Berryman Avenue in South Park also will have alternating one-way traffic starting Wednesday between Route 88 and Stoltz Road during drainage work, milling and paving. Work hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays as needed through late August.
The Port Authority has announced Red Line detours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for track work in Beechview.
Red Line service will detour in both directions over the Overbrook line, serving normal stops Downtown, at Station Square and at South Hills Junction, then Boggs through Willow stations before resuming regular routing to South Hills Village. At Willow, riders can transfer to a local light rail shuttle that will operate in both directions between Overbrook Junction and Potomac.
Bus shuttles will offer inbound and outbound service to riders who use Red Line stops between Station Square and Potomac, with shuttle stops located close to T stops. At Station Square, riders can transfer from the shuttle to regular buses or the T to continue into Downtown. At Potomac, riders can transfer to the local light rail shuttle for service to stops between Kelton and Overbrook Junction.
More details and a map of the detour are available at www.portauthority.org.
First Published June 15, 2012 12:00 am
