WEEKEND ROAD WORK
Nice forecast means more motorists, more restrictions.
The forecast for beautiful weather this weekend probably means more drivers on the roads, whether for the first Steelers preseason home game on Saturday or other activities.
But nice weather near the end of summer also means that contractors for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will be out trying to catch up on work they couldn’t do earlier because of the rainy summer in the Pittsburgh area, so motorists should allow extra time wherever they are going this weekend.
Probably the biggest disruption will be on the Parkway East/Interstate 376, where inbound (westbound) traffic will be reduced to one lane from the Greenfield Bridge to the Fort Pitt Bridge. That started at 10 p.m. Friday and continues through 5 a.m. Monday. In addition, the inbound exit ramp at Grant Street will be closed, as will the Boulevard of the Allies on-ramp to the highway.
Therestrictions will allow crews from Swank Construction Co. to do milling and paving, bridge dam replacement and other work on the highway. The company has a $26.4 million contract to upgrade the highway from the Fort Pitt Bridge to the Edgewood-Swissvale interchange.
The ParkwayNorth/Interstate 279 also will have single-lane restrictions in several areas; those began at 7 p.m. Friday and continue through 7 p.m. Saturday.
They include northbound restrictions between the Suffolk Street Bridge and McKnight Road-Evergreen Road interchange for concrete patching; northbound restrictions from the Route 28 north off-ramp to the I279/I-579 merge point for line painting and removing lane dividers; and from the merge point of the I-279 offramp to Route 28 and East General Robinson Street along northbound Route 28 for line painting and removal of a curb installed to separate lanes during construction.
That work by Trumbull Corp. and Lindy Paving is part of a three-year, $87.9 million project to improve the highway from Pittsburgh’s North Side to the Camp Horne Road interchange.
On Route 28, travel will be restricted to one lane in each direction for paving between the Natrona Heights and Freeport-Millerstown interchanges.
The restrictions went into effect in the southbound direction at 9 a.m. Friday and continue through 5 a.m. Monday. On the northbound side, the restrictions began at 7 p.m. Friday and continue through 2 p.m. Tuesday.
In addition, the Route 366Bull Creek Road southbound on-ramp onto Route 28 closed at 8 p.m. Friday and will remain closed through 5 a.m. Monday for concrete patching.
Lindy Paving is the contractor for the $34.3 million project from the Butler County line to Bailies Run Road in East Deer.
In Glenfield, inbound Route 65 will be reduced to one lane under the Neville Island Bridge from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday for routine bridge inspection.
Pedal Pittsburgh road restrictions
And if traffic restrictions aren’t enough, be on the lookout for bicyclists throughout the city on Sunday when some 3,000 are expected to ride in Pedal Pittsburgh, an annual event that has four different routes for various participation levels.
The heaviest streams of riders are expected between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The National Weather Service forecast for the Pittsburgh area calls for partly sunny and a high of 81 on Saturday and partly sunny with a chance of rain and a high of 85 on Sunday.