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The city pays big for unfixed potholes, sidewalks

Written by Jon Schmitz on .

The Post-Gazette's city hall reporter, Joe Smydo, provided this report Tuesday:

Legislation introduced in Pittsburgh City Council today would pay $42,500 to settle a pair of lawsuits stemming from accidents.

The city would pay $20,000 to Wilkinsburg resident Stanley Hicks and his attorneys. Mr. Hicks claimed that he sustained various injuries after hitting a pothole while riding his bicycle on Alsace Way in Homewood in August 2008.

The city also would pay $22,500 to Manchester resident Alberta Gales and her attorneys. Ms. Gales claimed that she sustained numerous injuries after falling on a poorly maintained sidewalk in Manchester Park in April 2008.

This is a tiny illustration of how failing to maintain infrastructure can be more costly in the long run than keeping it in a good state of repair. Will elected officials in Washington and Harrisburg ever get the message?

Here's the photo of the day, from a motorist on the inbound Parkway West (or is it the Porkway West?) this morning, via Twitter. Talk about a pig in a poke. The PG's Pete Zapadka speculates he was a real road hog. Ba-domp-bomp!

pig

Paving of Route 28 in the area of the 40th Street Bridge was rained out Tuesday night, pushing scheduled traffic restrictions back a day, PennDOT announced this morning. The revision calls for a full southbound closure of Route 28, with traffic directed across the 40th Street Bridge, from 8 p.m. today (Wednesday) until 5 a.m. Thursday. Bridge traffic will not have access to southbound Route 28 but can exit to the northbound side and Millvale. The 40th Street Bridge will be closed to all traffic at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, reopening at 5 a.m. the following days.

The left lane on the outbound lower deck of the Fort Pitt Bridge will be closed from 6 a.m. to noon on Saturday and possibly on Sunday in the area approaching the Fort Pitt Tunnel entrance. Crews from Pittsburgh Rigging Co. will install camera mounts.

Sign-ery

bout6

The ramp from Washington Place to Interstate 579-Crosstown Boulevard will reopen temporarily on Wednesday night to accommodate traffic leaving the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert at Consol Energy Center. Then it will close again until late Thursday or early Friday, when construction will be completed. The ramp closure has been a big headache for commuters since May 15.

The ramp from southbound I-579-Crosstown Boulevard to the outbound Liberty Bridge will be closed for the weekend for resurfacing. The closure will run from 8 p.m. Friday to no later than 6 a.m. Monday. Southbound I-579 will be reduced to one lane in the ramp area and the northbound I-579 ramp to Seventh Avenue will be closed. The same restrictions are planned for the following weekend.

Finney Road in Lincoln will be milled and repaved from Liberty Way/Harrison Road to Route 48 starting Monday. That will mean alternating one-way traffic from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays through late August.

Check those previous posts for more about upcoming road work, and check back for updates as we start to get the word on weekend construction.

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