PennDOT said yesterday that it's ready to start the $27.2 million Route 28 Etna interchange project on March 15 if the weather is decent.

The project, part of several improvements to Route 28, will limit traffic in that area. Right lane closures will occur in both directions from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to midnight March 15-20 while crews install temporary light poles and signs and do other work.

Then, beginning in late March and continuing through November, northbound traffic will be reduced to a single lane and crossed over onto the southbound lanes. The crossover will start at the water treatment facility in Shaler.

Traffic will travel for about a mile and then cross back over just before the new bridge over Route 8 at the Etna interchange. Two lanes of traffic will remain open on southbound Route 28 during the construction.

In addition, the northbound off-ramps to northbound Route 8 and Sharpsburg will be closed and traffic will be detoured through Etna using Exit 4.

The on-ramp from Butler Street in Etna to southbound Route 28 also will be closed and traffic detoured using Bridge Street to the southbound on-ramp.

PennDOT also said a project to widen Route 28 from north of the 31st Street Bridge to Millvale will start this spring. That project will provide four standard lanes separated by a median barrier and eliminate the traffic light for through traffic at the 40th Street Bridge.

One northbound and two southbound lanes will be open during the project, which is supposed to be finished by June 2012.

A third project also is under way to relocate railroad tracks to prepare for the reconstruction of the segment of Route 28 from 31st Street inbound to the old Heinz plant.

That initial job won't have much impact on Route 28 traffic, but it will eventually require PennDOT to shut down the 31st Street Bridge for a month while a pier is relocated.

When all the work on Route 28 is finished, PennDOT said, drivers should enjoy a wider and safer highway without the bottlenecks created by traffic lights at the 31st Street and 40th Street bridges.

Officials expect to complete all the projects by 2014.

First Published: March 6, 2010, 5:00 a.m.