Ready for a new traffic pattern?
Drivers who travel Route 19 (Washington Road) under Interstate 70 in South Strabane Township should be prepared to negotiate a traffic pattern they likely never have encountered when the diverging diamond interchange is implemented next week.
The diverging diamond is the first in Pennsylvania and will require traffic to cross over and switch lanes, with traffic signals directing flow to allow drivers to either pass through or get on the highway in either direction. It is an element of a $51.2 million project that started in November 2014 to redo the Murtland Avenue interchange on I-70. Golden Triangle Construction of Imperial is the general contractor for the state Department of Transportation project.
The final work will start about 6 p.m. Monday and continue through the night to eradicate and then repaint lines on both lanes of Route 19, said Scott Faieta, assistant construction engineer for PennDOT, which is overseeing the project. The work will be done in the northbound lanes between Oak Spring Road to the first traffic signal and on the southbound side from Trinity Point/Strabane Square up to the traffic signal.
“But the big day will be Tuesday,” Faieta said. “Starting at 4 p.m., crews will start setting channelizers between the two signals and start flip-flopping traffic into the diverging diamond configuration.”
The new traffic signals also will be turned on, and traffic will be restricted to a single lane in each direction during the switch.
“State police will be on the interstate so if traffic starts backing up during the switch, they will be able to notify our flaggers,” Faieta said. “South Strabane police will be on Route 19 making sure drivers don’t speed through. They have also committed to helping through the end of the week. We will be having lots of flaggers out there working during the switch.
“I realize that starting this work during the rush hour may be inconvenient, but we need the daylight hours to get this started, and for the safety of the workers. Drivers may want to find an alternate route that day, because I’m sure it may be a little crazy.”
By Wednesday morning, traffic between the two signals under the highway will be traveling in the opposite lanes in the diverging diamond pattern, Faieta said.
“I am sure some drivers will be uncomfortable at first driving on the opposite side of the road, and I recommend they exercise caution,” he said. “But if they follow along the channelizers and let the traffic pattern take them where they are supposed to go, they will be fine.
“The pattern will make for a better flow of traffic through the area,” Faieta added.
He said the only thing that might delay the plan is poor weather, but the forecast is favorable for early next week.
Faieta said the original plans called for implementing the new traffic pattern next year, but when it became apparent work on the project had progressed to allow the switch to be done this year, the decision was made to move ahead.
Crews will work from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly to construct mountable curbs and medians as permanent barriers in the diverging diamond. Mountable curbs also will be built at the ramps to the highway. That work likely will continue through the end of October. Crews will return next year to put down the permanent wearing surface on Route 19 in that area, Faieta said.
The westbound lanes of the highway which are currently being rebuilt, should open in late October or early November. The project was to have been completed by November 2017, but Faieta said it is ahead of schedule.