Inbound Liberty Bridge and Tunnel closed this weekend so all lanes can reopen Monday

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The inbound Liberty Bridge and Tunnel will be closed this weekend for the last time this year, and when the bridge reopens by Monday morning, all four lanes of traffic will be open.

The inbound closure will begin at 8 tonight to allow crews from Joseph B. Fay Co. to remove barriers and return lane markings to the same pattern they had been before deck replacement began in late April. Crews have been replacing one lane of the deck at a time, shifting traffic patterns every few weeks.

That cleanup work must be done by 5 a.m. Monday, said Steve Cowan, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s District 11.

The contractor had 160 days ending Oct. 19 to finish the deck work, but the project was delayed by a construction fire Sept. 2 that closed the bridge for 22 days.

Fay faces a deduction from its $80 million contract to rehabilitate the bridge because of the late opening, but Mr. Cowan couldn’t say how much.

“They made up some serious ground after being closed for 22 days,” he said.

This weekend’s work will be the last extended closure this year. Mr. Cowan said there will be some short-term closures during weekdays or overnight — but nothing during rush hours — that will continue into early next year.

Although all four bridge lanes will be open by Monday, singlelane restrictions on the Boulevard of the Allies on- and off-ramps and the sidewalk closure on the Liberty Bridge will remain in place.

Next spring, major work will resume and include multiple weekend and overnight closures of the bridge, an 80-day closure of the Boulevard of the Allies in the bridge area and single-lane