Highland Park Bridge ramp closed through July
The ramp from the Highland Park Bridge to Route 28 north will be closed a month longer than expected after construction crews found more deterioration than expected.
The ramp, which is part of a $47.3 million project to improve the interchange where the bridge and highway meet, was scheduled to be closed through late June. Now, that will be pushed back until late July because metal straps used to stabilize a retaining wall had to be replaced, Jason Zang, who oversees Pennsylvania Department of Transportation construction in Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties, said Tuesday.
“When we removed a roadway slab for replacement, we discovered the tie-back straps to the retaining wall were deteriorated and needed to be replaced,” Mr. Zang said. “When you’re working on an older road like this, sometimes you find things you weren’t expecting when you open it up.
“We see this problem a lot when we’re working around this particular type of retaining wall.”
Mr. Zang said engineers had to identify and contact the original supplier of the straps so they were replaced with the right product and that extra work took about a month. The unexpected work shouldn’t delay Golden Triangle Construction’s completion of the project by the end of 2023 and will only add “minimal” cost to the project, he said.
“We want to rebuild it right so we don’t have to go back and fix the retaining wall later,” Mr. Zang said. “Sometimes, that just takes some time. We appreciate the public’s patience while we do this.”
The ramp closure puts additional traffic headed north on Freeport Road. Police officers will continue to be assigned to that area to help keep traffic moving.
When the ramp to Route 28 is finished, the ramp to Freeport Road will close for 157 days.
Overall, the project is adding separate exit lanes from the highway to the bridge in both directions, which will result in two freeflowing lanes from Pittsburgh’s North Side to Kittanning.