Weekend roads to avoid at all costs

Nat Hayes, @sloaps on Twitter, shares this archived Pittsburgh Press editorial from 1972 dealing with, of all things, a Port Authority budget deficit and possible service cuts. It underscores the fact that the state’s underfunding of public transit here, and the resulting financial problems, are nothing new. State-funded transit, with the purse strings controlled by a Legislature whose majority has no interest in adequately funding big-city buses and trains, is a flawed model. Will regional and local leaders fix this before the system fades into oblivion?

It’s going to be interesting getting around this weekend with lots of construction in key places.

The ramp that connects the inbound Fort Duquesne Bridge to the outbound Fort Pitt Bridge and the Parkway East will be closed from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday for resurfacing. Inbound traffic on the Fort Duquesne Bridge will be required to use the off-ramps to Fort Duquesne Boulevard and the 10th Street Bypass. PennDOT suggests that those wishing to get to the Parkway West or Parkway East use Route 65 and the West End Bridge as a detour. Traffic bound for the Parkway East must use the loop at the Banksville interchange to turn around and head inbound through the Fort Pitt Tunnel.

It might be easier for those going east to just exit Downtown and cross over to one of the Parkway East on-ramps, because Banksville Road is under construction this weekend (see below) and it’s not out of the realm that traffic will back up and clog the Banksville interchange.

Also closed for the weekend are the 10th Street Bypass-Fort Duquesne Boulevard ramps to the Fort Pitt Bridge. The suggested detour is to take a left at Stanwix Street and follow it to the on-ramp to the Fort Pitt Bridge approach.

The work is part of an $8.7 million one-year project to smooth the connections from Downtown to its various interstate escape routes.

Bit of a hangover

(PennDOT traffic camera capture by pennlive.com, Interstate 81 at Route 581 west of Harrisburg)

Banksville Road will have single-lane traffic in both directions from 8 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Monday between the Parkway West and Carnahan Road/Wenzell Avenue for milling and paving. The gas company put an unannounced whammy on traffic last weekend and our reports are that it wasn’t pretty. We recommend an avoidance strategy.

Here’s another place not to get caught dead in this weekend: Route 50 anywhere near the bridge over Chartiers Creek between Prestley Road and the Chartiers Valley Shopping Center. Crews will be repairing and resurfacing it and traffic will be in an alternating one-way pattern at times from 8 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. PennDOT is warning of major delays.

Nearby, work begins on Prestley Road in Collier and Bridgeville next Wednesday. Drainage, milling and paving will occur from Route 50 to Thoms Run Road, with alternating one-way traffic in work areas from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. weekdays and from 6 p.m. Fridays through 6 a.m. Mondays, until late August.

Traffic on the northbound side of the Veterans Bridge at the approach to the Parkway North will be reduced to one lane, beginning at the off-ramp to Route 28, from 8 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday for expansion dam replacement.

Traffic on inbound Route 28 will be reduced to a single lane from the former Millvale Industrial Park to the East Ohio Street exit from 8 p.m. Friday to approximately 6 p.m. Saturday as crews install caissons for retaining wall construction.

The Port Authority has announced Red Line detours from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for track work in Beechview.

Red Line service will detour in both directions over the Overbrook line, serving its normal stops Downtown, at Station Square and at South Hills Junction, then serving Boggs through Willow stations before continuing on its regular routing to South Hills Village. At Willow, riders can transfer to a local light rail shuttle that will operate in both directions between Overbrook Junction and Potomac.

Bus shuttles will offer inbound and outbound service to riders who use Red Line stops between Station Square and Potomac, with shuttle stops located close to T stops. At Station Square, riders may transfer from the shuttle to regular buses or the T to continue into Downtown. At Potomac, riders may transfer to the local light rail shuttle for service to stops between Kelton and Overbrook Junction.

More details and a map of the detour are available at portauthority.org.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike will be closed in both directions between Irwin (Exit 67) and Monroeville (Exit 57) from 11:59 p.m. Saturday through 5 a.m. Sunday, weather permitting, to accommodate bridge beam erection. The detour is 22 miles long via Route 22, Turnpike 66 and Route 30. Local traffic using Route 130 in Penn between midnight and 5 a.m. will encounter short-term stoppages between Nike Site Road and Pleasant Valley Road.

Short-term lane closures are possible from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on inbound Route 28 between RIDC and Fox Chapel during removal of the barrier on the right shoulder.

Berryman Avenue in South Park will have alternating one-way traffic starting Wednesday between Route 88 and Stoltz Road during drainage work, milling and paving. Work hours will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays as needed through late August.

Route 88 in South Park and Bethel Park also will be milled and repaved starting Wednesday. Affected is the section from the Washington County line to the South Park entrance at Corrigan Drive. Restrictions will include alternating one-way traffic from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 6 p.m. Fridays to 6 a.m. Sundays through late August.

Inspection of overhead signs will cause short lane closures between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday at these sites: Route 28 southbound off-ramp to East Ohio Street; Business Route 22 westbound near Monroeville Mall; West End Bridge southbound approaching the West End; Tri-Boro Expressway at the intersection with Braddock Avenue. Same hours on Tuesday on Route 8 in both directions at the Route 28-62nd Street Bridge-Etna interchange.

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