Major roadway projects were completed this past year in the Pittsburgh area, but several others will get underway or continue in 2015.
“2014 was a significant year,” said Dan Cessna, District 11 executive for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. “We completed the fourth phase of Liberty Tunnel. We completed Squirrel Hill Tunnels, and most significantly we wrapped up four years of construction on Route 28.”
Act 89, which increases transportation funding by $2.3 billion annually, took effect last January and will mean an extra $100 million in construction projects for the Pittsburgh region this year “about a third more than we would do normally,” Cessna said.
Fort Pitt Tunnel
While PennDOT completed the Squirrel Hill Tunnel project in 2014, work will continue in 2015 to remove the Fort Pitt Tunnel ceiling to address long-term safety concerns.
“Over the past two closures of the Fort Pitt Tunnel (in 2014), we’ve gotten the sections of ceiling removed that we were most concerned about,” Cessna said. “The other areas that we will be removing are more of what we had planned to address in terms of long-term maintenance of the tunnel.”
The $14.2 million project also includes concrete repair work to the tunnel walls, electrical updates, drainage improvements and resurfacing of the roadway. The work will necessitate eight full weekend closures requiring detours; four weekend evening full closures, and overnight single-lane closures in each tunnel. Work is to be completed in the spring of 2016.
Parkway West (I-376)
Whether you’re traveling through the tunnel inbound or outbound, you’ll also be impacted on the largest, most expensive road project of the year — the $72.8 million improvement of the Parkway West (I-376).
According to Cessna, the “grand plan” includes replacing bridge decks near the Carnegie interchange and “do other major bridge repairs to the other mainline bridges along the corridor; replace the entire median barrier; reconstruct the shoulders of the roadway; and then ultimately resurface the entire riding surface from Interstate 79 to the Fort Pitt Tunnels.”
The initial work began last summer and is scheduled to resume in March, but Cessna said that depends on the weather.
“If winter is slow to end, it could delay implementation of lane restrictions into April.”
Cessna said that between now and March they will develop their schedule for lane restrictions, overnight closures and full weekend closures. He hopes to have the bulk of the work finished by late 2015 with completion by the summer of 2016.
Hulton Bridge
“It’s a pretty exciting year that after one hundred plus years folks would have a newer, wider bridge to travel on as they cross the Allegheny in Oakmont and Harmar,” Cessna said.
The new span is being built just upstream of the century old Hulton Bridge or the “Lavender Link” as it’s known to motorists because of its color.
The old Hulton Bridge is a single 11-foot lane in each direction.
It’s pretty tight through there when a major tractor trailer or other vehicle is passing you," Cessna said. "So it’s going to be a major safety improvement, a major comfort improvement as a traveler.”
He said the new four-lane Hulton Bridge will expedite traffic flow and is scheduled to open in November with some adjacent work wrapping up by May 2016.
Route 51 Corridor
Many southbound motorists won’t be able to escape construction this year as the $19 million improvement of the Routes 51/88 intersection continues. The project began in summer 2013, and although the majority of the work is expected to be finished by the end of 2015, it will be wrapped up by summer 2016.
PennDOT is replacing five bridges and building a new one in the area of Routes 51/88.
“We will close 88 inbound while we leave 88 outbound open," Cessna said. "That will facilitate replacement of the culverts that cross Route 88 right at the 51 intersection.”
The project also includes roadway reconstruction, turning lane construction, signal upgrades and stream bank restoration. Four lanes of traffic on Route 51 will be maintained during peak travel times. Approximately 42,000 vehicles travel that area of Route 51 on an average day.
Barrel-Free, Looking Ahead
And if you’re looking to avoid those orange barrels this year, the Parkway East, the Parkway North, Route 28 and Route 65 corridors all will be construction free,” Cessna said. “So the motorists on those roads are going to have some relief this summer.”
Cessna said his long-range hopes include signal upgrades and adding turn lanes along many of the major roadways while improving safety for pedestrians and motorists.
“Significantly we need to make some long-term capital investments to the Parkway East and Parkway West corridors that would actually enhance travel," he said. "All the work that we’ve done on both of those corridors over the last decade has basically to maintain the existing infrastructures.”
He said PennDOT has already done studies for major improvements on the Parkway West and is now evaluating the Parkway East.
“Our goal is to pinpoint a menu of improvements that we could deliver over a series of years that would actually provide major safety enhancements to the motorists because these are high accident corridors and also mobility improvements,” Cessna said.
