Hawaii has become the 40th state to ban texting while driving, the Governors Highway Safety Association announced today.

The Aloha State also banned hand-held cell phone use by drivers, become the 11th state (plus the District of Columbia) to do so. This appears to be a key component of effectively banning texting, because if it is still legal for a driver to dial a cell phone, it’s hard for police to enforce the ban.

The safety association believes all states should ban texting and hand-held phone use by drivers. Pennsylvania has a texting ban but hasn’t gotten around to banning the hand-held. Our neighbors in Maryland, New York, New Jersey and West Virginia are among those who have.

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The Pennsylvania Turnpike celebrated the reopening of the South Midway service plaza in Bedford County this afternoon. It is the 14th of 17 rest stops to be rebuilt, but unlike the others, its original appearance was preserved. “South Midway has a unique distinction: It looks much like it did when it originally opened more than 72 years ago — at least from the outside,” the turnpike announced. On the inside, it was expanded and modernized to offer amenities similar to the turnpike’s other rebuilt plazas.

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In case you are wondering, there is no Squirrel Hill Tunnel closure this weekend because of the holiday.

Repairs to concrete barriers will cause lane closures on the Parkway East tonight. The closures will begin at 10 p.m. and conclude by 5 a.m. Wednesday on the inbound side between Exit 73B in Oakland and the Boulevard of the Allies-Liberty Bridge interchange, and in both directions between the Penn Hills and Monroeville interchanges.

The eastbound right lane of the Tri-Boro Expressway was scheduled to close today for one month during repairs to retaining walls from Monroeville Avenue to Patton Street in Wilmerding.

Be sure to drift along to earlier posts for more upcoming road work.

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Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has announced that 40 miles of Pittsburgh roads will be repaved this year at a cost of $10 million. This is from his news release:

“This year’s capital budget allows us to invest in our infrastructure and improve even more roads in our city … Paving and resurfacing city streets is just one way that we work to keep Pittsburgh as America’s ‘Most Livable City.’”

Sorry to rain on the mayor’s pavement, but 40 miles is nowhere near the 75 to 100 miles per year that Public Works Director Rob Kaczorowski has said he would like to do per year, which is what would be required to keep the city’s street network in good repair. And it’s 20 fewer miles than last year’s program.

While the city has a lot of things to brag about, the condition of its streets is not one of them.

You can view the list of streets to be paved here.

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U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster announced on Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency will not do another round of reviews on the proposed widening and relocation of Route 219 in Somerset County. This should clear the way for construction on a project that has been talked about and planned for nearly a half-century. With the EPA signoff, the work now needs a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers, which is expected soon. This Post-Gazette story from February explains why some wanted more scrutiny of the project’s environmental impact and shows where the new road would be built.

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How cool is PennDOT? PennDOT is on YouTube.

Today it announced the launch of its channel, www.youtube.com/PennsylvaniaDOT. “Our YouTube channel is our next step in communicating with our customers in more personal, interactive ways,” PennDOT Secretary Barry J. Schoch said in a news release. Posted there so far are a 25-minute time lapse video of repair work after the May 9 tanker fire at the Interstate 81 and U.S. 22/322 interchange (definitely worth a look), educational and safety videos; and features on PennDOT operations and initiatives.

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PennDOT driver’s license and photo centers will be closed Saturday through Monday for the Memorial Day weekend.

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Traffic on Route 65 will be reduced to one narrow lane in both directions starting tonight for a $6.3 million paving project. Starting at 8 p.m., inbound traffic will be crossed to the outbound side from Camp Horne Road in Emsworth to Locust Street in Avalon, with one 10-foot lane maintained in both directions. The restriction will be in place around the clock. Five miles of Route 65 will be resurfaced in Emsworth, Ben Avon, Avalon and Bellevue. The project is scheduled for completion late this year.

Another likely source of big slowdowns is the continuing in-depth inspection of the Liberty Bridge, which may cause lane closures and traffic shifts from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on weekdays through June 14. This has already caused some hefty midday jams. Restrictions also are possible from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 1 and 2. No work will be done May 31.

Watch for line painting on the Parkway North and Interstate 79 all week. Keep your distance.

Inspection of the Rachel Carson Bridge over the Allegheny River will begin next week. The bridge will close to traffic and pedestrians from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., weather permitting, on the following dates: May 28 through 31; June 3 through 7; and June 10, according to the Allegheny County Public Works Department.

The signs are up advertising the closing of Valley Brook Road at Route 19 in Peters on Wednesday as reconstruction of that awkward, shabby interchange begins. You’ll probably like the finished product but it’s going to cost you 16 months of detours. For those east of Route 19, McMurray Road is the official alternate; to the west, Mayview and Boyce roads. You might have some better ways to go.

Inspection of the 10th Street Bridge will cause alternating right-lane closures in both directions from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Friday.

The dreaded alternating one-way traffic pattern will be in effect overnight on Duncan Avenue between Babcock Boulevard and Thompson Run Road in McCandless starting at 6 p.m. weekdays and concluding daily by 6 a.m., with extra police on hand to control traffic. Project is scheduled to be completed in August.

Alternating one-way traffic also will be in effect on Freeport Road from Western Avenue in Aspinwall to the Route 28 Blawnox interchange in O’Hara from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. weekdays through late June.

PennDOT announced that Washington Road in Findlay will be closed through early July between Route 30 and Potato Garden Road for bridge work. It’s not a heavily traveled stretch, with about 700 daily vehicles.

Interstate 80 is restricted to one lane in both directions for three miles west of Exit 24 Grove City/Sandy Lake in Mercer County by road work. The restrictions are expected to be in place until Friday afternoon.

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Here's a little quiz for those who drive in Downtown Pittsburgh. Good luck to all!!!!

1. What does the following sign require drivers to do?

2. This white line, which appears at most signalized intersections before the crosswalk, is called a "stop line." Why is it called that?

3. For how long is it permissible to continue through an intersection after a traffic signal of this color ....

turns to this color?

4. What traffic movement does this sign prohibit, and during what period?

Stumped? You can find the answers here.

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American Airlines will add daily nonstop flights to and from Los Angeles International Airport on Aug. 27. The flights will depart PIT at 4:30 p.m. and arrive at LAX at 6:50 p.m. The return flight will depart LAX at 8:10 a.m. and arrive at PIT at 3:30 p.m. The aircraft will be a Boeing 737 with 16 first-class seats and 134 coach seats.

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Pennsylvania American Water will have a ceremony on Friday to celebrate the completion of $100 million of upgrades to the Hays Mine treatment plant and Becks Run pumping station. Safe to say that drivers who use Becks Run Road will be popping corks in relief that the many traffic restrictions they've endured for the past two years will be behind them.

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PennDOT has tentatively set May 24 for reopening the city end of the 31st Street Bridge.

Another weekend closure of the outbound Squirrel Hill Tunnel is scheduled from 11 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday. There is no closure scheduled over the Memorial Day weekend, but the inbound tunnel is slated for shutdowns on the first two weekends in June.

Lane closures are possible on these bridges today and Friday: Westinghouse Bridge from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today; Tarentum Bridge from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today; McKees Rocks Bridge from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday.

Overhead sign inspections on the Parkway North, including the HOV lanes, are scheduled today and may cause lane closures at various places between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Traffic signal work may cause lane closures on McKnight Road from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through May 24 at Babcock Boulevard, Duncan Avenue, Cumberland Road and Arcadia Drive.

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The Montour Trail Council is making great progress on a project that will eventually eliminate a 600- to 700-foot gap in the trail near Route 19 in Peters. A contractor has completed construction of abutments for the first of two bridges that are needed to span the gap and expects to place the 100-foot bridge structure on Wednesday or Thursday.

That bridge will be part of a westward extension (shown in red) from the Arrowhead Trail to a point directly across Valley Brook Road from where the trail resumes. When it is complete this summer, users will no longer have to travel along Valley Brook -- they’ll only have to cross it.

A bridge over Valley Brook to complete the connection is a longer-term goal.

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More happy trails: Work to resurface the Three Rivers Heritage Trail on the North Shore is progressing well, according to Scott Baxter, executive director of Friends of the Riverfront. Chronic drainage issues have been corrected and reclaimed asphalt is being put down. If the weather holds, the first of two top layers will go in Wednesday, the second on Thursday. Meanwhile, that section of trail, from 660 River Ave. to the Three Rivers Rowing Association, remains closed this week. Mr. Baxter offered thanks to the Laurel Foundation, Hillman Family Foundations and They Working Fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation for underwriting the project.

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There are all sorts of online calculators for determining how much alcohol puts you over the DUI limit, currently 0.08 but if the National Transportation Safety Board has its way, reduced to 0.05. According to the calculator of Progressive Insurance, a 180-pound male passes the lower limit with three 12-ounce beers in an hour. A 120-pound female goes well past 0.05 with two drinks in an hour. Even if she nurses those two cocktails for two hours, our hypothetical female is right at the proposed limit. A 220-pound guy doesn’t go over the proposed line until the fourth drink in one hour.

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Yellow Cab announced that military personnel in uniform will get free cab service from Pittsburgh International Airport to anywhere in Allegheny County through the end of this year and possibly beyond. “With Memorial Day approaching, we thought this was the ideal time to introduce the program,” said Jamie Campolongo, CEO of Pittsburgh Transportation Group.

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Squirrel Hill Tunnel reminder No. 656: Closed outbound this weekend from 10 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Monday.

Water line work will cause alternating one-way traffic on Scrubgrass Road in Scott from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays through late June, with some weekend work possible. The site is at a culvert at Scrubgrass Run.
 
Repairs to concrete median barriers will cause left-lane closures in both directions on the Parkway East in Oakland starting two hours after the Penguins game ends tonight, and in both directions from Penn Hills to Monroeville starting at 10 p.m. Wednesday. Work concludes by 5 a.m.

Here's another map of the Route 837 project we talked about in Monday's post, this one not drawn by an amateur. Details of the closures and restrictions are in the prior post.

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