Mar 9, 2016 5 min read

The roads, highways and bridges being repaired may be in Allegheny County, but drivers from Washington and Greene counties heading to Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh International Airport will be impacted by work the state Department of Transportation has planned for the 2016 construction season.

Projects affecting drivers in PennDOT’s District 11 this construction season include work on the 88-year-old Liberty Bridge that takes traffic across the Monongahela River; completion of the Parkway West paving project as well as Fort Pitt Tunnel ceiling removal work, and concrete rehabilitation of Route 22 in North Fayette Township between the Washington County line and the Oakdale exit and I-376 near the airport.

It has been since the 1980s that there has been any significant work on the Liberty Bridge, Steve Cowan, District 11 spokesman, said. Deck replacement and ramp reconstruction will begin in April on the $80.08 million project. That is when things may get a little confusing for drivers.

“To say there will be difficulty for drivers would be an understatement,” Cowan said. “Traffic patterns will switch three times a day.”

There will be two lanes open for inbound traffic from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. and two lanes for outbound traffic from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. while work is done in one lane. Traffic will be restricted to a single lane in each direction from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m.

“There will be 160 days of work on the deck,” Cowan said. “Once a lane is complete, work will switch to the next lane downstream,” Cowan said. “There will be a barrier between the two lanes. Driving will be a bit complicated.”

Motorists can check out a driving simulator on the district’s website that will be operational no later than the end of the week that will show drivers what to expect, Cowan said. The site is www.penndot.gov/RegionalOffices/district-11.

Cowan said while traffic will be maintained on the bridge, there will be a long-term closure of the ramps to and from the Boulevard of the Allies. Detours will be posted.

The project will continue through 2017. There will be five weekend and 26 overnight closures of the bridge next year along with an 80-day closure of the Boulevard of the Allies in the area of the bridge.

Cowan said the bulk of the work has been completed on the parkway.

“But there will be at least one weekend closure to finish paving work near Carnegie,” Cowan said. “The other work that needs to be done will have little impact on drivers.”

Message boards and sign structure work will also be finished while the highway is closed. The project, which includes bridge painting this year, will be done in August.

Cowan said there will be four weekend closures in the Fort Pitt Tunnel, two in each direction. The closures will happen in April and May for paving and beam flange painting. There also will be some overnight closures so crews can install drains, water and fire suppression lines and cross passage doors. The work will be done in May.

The estimated $9 to $10.5 million road and bridge project on Route 22 will start around the middle of May and be completed in late November, There will be concrete rehabilitation and patching, bridge repair and guard rail and drainage updates, shoulder work and improvements to signs and pavement markings. There also will be a closure of the Noblestown Road interchange and a portion of Potato Garden Road.

Weekend lane restrictions have started on the $66.34 million project to reconstruct and rehabilitate concrete on I-376 from McClaren Road into Beaver County. The work also includes joint repairs, bridge deck overlays and guard rail and drainage improvements on the 7.5-mile stretch of road. Two lanes of traffic will be maintained with temporary crossovers that will be built next month. Cowan said that drivers planning to get off I-376 in the construction area will need to use the “local” lane because the other lane is designated as an “express” lane that will bypass all exits. The project will be done in November 2017.

Resurfacing work to be done this year on some local roads includes McLaughlin Run Road from Bower Hill Road in Bridgeville to McMurray Road in Upper St. Clair; South Park Road from McMurray Road to Route 88 in Bethel Park; Gilkeson Road from Cedar Boulevard to Galleria Drive in Mt. Lebanon and Mt. Lebanon Boulevard from Route 19 (Washington Road) in Mt. Lebanon to Castle Shannon Boulevard in Castle Shannon.

The project to improve Route 60 (Steubenville Pike) and Route 22/30 will be done in May after final pavement marking and joint sealing is completed. Also done in May is the Route 50 improvement project from the county line to Millers Run Road in South Fayette Township. Work to replace the Washington Pike bridge over Coal Run, also in South Fayette, started last month and will be done in September.