Mind your manners in Pennsylvania Turnpike work zones this year. State police have announced that troopers bearing radar guns will hole up in orange construction trucks to catch those who speed in construction sites. Other troopers will be waiting just beyond the work zones to pull over those clocked going too fast. It’s called Operation Orange Squeeze.

Capt. Gregory M. Bacher, commander of Troop T, the unit in charge of turnpike patrols, said police “will have zero tolerance for unsafe and aggressive driving in work zones.” Fines for certain traffic violations, including speeding, are doubled in active work zones. Motorists caught driving 11 mph or more above the posted speed limit in an active work zone will lose their license for 15 days.
----------
The outbound Squirrel Hill Tunnel will be closed this weekend and next. The closures will start an hour earlier than previous shutdowns, at 10 p.m. Friday. Work will conclude and the tunnel will reopen by 6 a.m. Monday both weekends. PennDOT warns of significant delays as traffic is pinched to one lane to exit at Squirrel Hill-Homestead.

The ramp from northbound Interstate 579-Crosstown Boulevard to Seventh Avenue will close for about 10 days starting at 8 p.m. Friday so crews can paint overhead bridges. PennDOT recommends this detour: Stay to the right and take the Centre Avenue-Consol Energy Center exit, turn right onto Washington Place, right on Fifth Avenue, right on Sixth Avenue, right on Grant Street to Seventh.

Lane closures are possible today (Wednesday) on southbound Interstate 79 approaching the Bridgeville interchange for bridge inspection from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The ramp from Old Steubenville Pike to eastbound Route 22 at the McDonald interchange in North Fayette will be closed starting at 7 a.m. Monday through late August. The right lane on eastbound Route 22 will close as well so crews can extend the acceleration lane from the on-ramp. The closures will be in place through late August. The bridge over the Montour Trail between Route 980 and Old Steubenville Pike has been closed since late February and will stay closed through late August.

Lane and shoulder closures are possible on westbound Interstate 70 between Bentleyville and Ginger Hill and eastbound from a half-mile west of Route 917 to a half-mile east of Bentleyville starting Monday and continuing through late May. The restrictions can occur at any time.

The Andy Warhol Bridge aka Seventh Street Bridge in Downtown Pittsburgh will close from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday and the Rachel Carson Bridge nee Ninth Street Bridge will close from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday so that banners for the Pittsburgh Marathon can be hung.

Route 88 will close in both directions between Churchill Road and Clifton Road in Bethel Park for bridge repairs from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The detour is via Berryman Avenue, Stewart Road and Brownsville Road.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

@pgtraffic on Twitter

Like Pittsburgh On the Go on Facebook

Politico.com’s Morning Transportation staff is polling readers on the most annoying behavior they encounter on public transportation. I cast my ballot for loud, oblivious cell phone use, although playing loud music on tinny, cheap earphones that can be heard by all nearby comes in a close second. You can vote at http://poll.fm/46r2m. In a previous poll that attracted 10,000 votes, 81 percent said they oppose allowing heavier trucks on the road. These polls can be amusing but are completely unscientific.

----------

State Sen. John Rafferty will hold an 11 a.m. news conference Tuesday regarding his proposal for transportation funding. Mr. Rafferty, R-Montgomery, who chairs the Transportation Committee, is expected to offer a plan bigger than the one proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett in his budget message. He may follow the recommendations of the governor's Transportation Funding Advisory Commission, which called for increases in license and registration fees along with uncapping the tax on gasoline wholesalers.

----------

It’s National Work Zone Awareness Week. Jason Koss, director of industry relations for the Constructors Association of Western Pennsylvania, reminds us that four out of five work zone fatalities are motorists or passengers rather than construction workers. The association sponsored a children’s coloring contest, and participants came up with these catch phrases: “Obey the signs or pay the fines.” “Stay off your phone in the construction zone.” “On the road, don’t text and drive, you make the choice to be dead or alive.”

Several years ago, I collaborated with KDKA-TV’s Paul Martino on a report about work zone speeding: not surprisingly, we found it to be rampant. Gov. Tom Corbett’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission has recommended automated speed enforcement cameras in work zones, a proposal that would require approval by the Legislature. The cameras have been used in work zones in Maryland since October 2009 and photograph the license plates of cars exceeding the posted speed limit by 12 mph or more. Maryland officials say the number of citations issued has gone down by 80 percent since the program’s debut.

The good news is that work zone crashes and fatalities have been declining for several years. But there were 1,812 crashes, 21 deaths and 1,315 injuries in Pennsylvania work zones in 2011, suggesting that more could be done to get us to slow down. Only one of those killed was a construction worker.

----------

East Carson Street will be closed between Becks Run Road and Glass Run Road from 7 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Monday to allow demolition of Pennsylvania American Water’s Becks Run pumping station. It was replaced as part of a $101 million upgrade of water infrastructure. Traffic will be detoured via the Hot Metal Bridge, Second Avenue and the Glenwood Bridge.

Route 88 will be closed between Churchill and Clifton roads in Bethel Park for bridge repairs this weekend. Crews will repair damage to a concrete parapet caused by a vehicle collision. The road will close from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Traffic will be detoured via Berryman Avenue, Stewart Road and Brownsville Road.

The Wabash Tunnel is now closed to all traffic. Port Authority finally was able to secure the equipment needed to repair the traffic control system. The tunnel has been open only to outbound traffic since a truck damaged it on Oct. 22. Repairs are expected to take three to four weeks.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike will “pace” traffic at 25 mph using police vehicles between Butler Valley and Allegheny Valley starting at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday and concluding by 3 a.m. Wednesday to allow demolition of a portion of the Rich Hill Road bridge over the turnpike at mile 46.3. Two separate 20-minute paces are scheduled.

If you missed it, read up on Washington Road construction in Mt. Lebanon here. It starts tonight. Take a glance back at previous posts for more information about what's down the road.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

@pgtraffic on Twitter

Like us at Pittsburgh On the Go on Facebook

We begin today with an unusual but eminently sensible plea from Operation Lifesaver of Pennsylvania, a rail safety organization, to professional photographers. It is asking them to refrain from shooting school, wedding or prom pictures on train tracks or trestles. From Don Lubinsky, executive director:

“We know that photographers seek creative portrait settings; however, using train tracks as a backdrop for photos is not only dangerous, it is illegal trespassing. This spring, as part of our mission to reduce deaths and injuries around trains, we are asking professional and amateur photographers to set the right example by staying away from train tracks.”

In December, a California high school art teacher and photographer was struck and killed by a train while taking photos on the tracks. In response, Operation Lifesaver has worked with Professional Photographers of America on rail safety education outreach. Here’s David Trust, CEO of the PPA:

“Trackside settings have become popular for senior, wedding, and family portraits. But photographers need to know the laws and the safety ramifications of staging a photo shoot near train tracks. PPA applauds Operation Lifesaver programs that educate photographers about the danger to themselves and their clients of working near tracks.”

----------

Traffic restrictions for a major reconstruction project will begin Monday on Route 19-Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation will hold an informational meeting for the public on Monday night. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at the municipal building, 710 Washington Road. As the meeting begins, water line relocation by Pennsylvania American Water will start, closing the northbound lanes of Washington Road from Gilkeson and Connor roads to Terrace Drive. Traffic will be restricted to one lane in both directions using the southbound side of the road starting at 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and continuing until 5 a.m. the next day. The official start of the $5.6 million PennDOT project is April 22. It calls for milling and resurfacing Washington Road from the intersection at Connor and Gilkeson to Alfred Street in the heart of the business district. It also will reconfigure the Connor-Gilkeson intersection, adding a second eastbound through lane from Gilkeson to Connor to eliminate a bottleneck. Traffic signals will be upgraded through the corridor.

More Route 65 restrictions from Chestnut Street in Sewickley to the Beaver County line will occur weekdays starting Monday and continuing through the end of the month. Crews will paint crosswalks, do electrical work, repair guiderail, install ADA ramps, stain concrete wall and perform other minor tasks to complete the project. Short-term single lane closures will occur as needed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

The ramp connecting the Liberty Bridge to northbound Interstate 579-Crosstown Boulevard will be closed from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday while crews place concrete to construct a drainage system above a retaining wall.

Fort Pitt Tunnel washing will close an inbound lane overnight starting at 10 p.m. Sunday and Monday and an outbound lane at 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. Work wraps by 5 a.m. daily.

Maple Avenue in Wilmerding will be closed from Second Street to Middle Avenue from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays starting Monday and continuing through early October during work on retaining walls.

Route 22 will have rolling lane closures between the Oakdale interchange and the Washington County line as crews continue research for a future project from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays through April 26.

Expansion of the Route 19 intersection at Freeport Road in Marshall will begin Monday, with crews adding a right-turn lane from northbound Route 19 to Freeport Road, two left-turn lanes from Freeport Road to southbound Route 19 and a turn lane from Freeport to northbound Route 19. Other improvements include new traffic signals, signage, curbing, ADA ramps, drainage and widening. Lane closures will be possible weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. through mid-July.

DON’T GET BLINDSIDED ... there’s more! Read the previous post and stay out of harm’s way this weekend.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

@pgtraffic on Twitter

Like us on Facebook at Pittsburgh On the Go

Amtrak continues to enjoy record-setting ridership, including the single-best month ever in March.

This week, the railroad reported a nearly 1 percent ridership gain for the first six months of fiscal 2013 despite service disruptions from Superstorm Sandy. Twenty-six of 45 routes saw gains and Amtrak said it expects to finish the fiscal year at or above last year’s record ridership of 31.2 million.

There was good news for the Pennsylvanian, the route that had been in jeopardy before the state and Amtrak reached a subsidy agreement recently. Ridership was up 4.3 percent.

Incidentally, at a hearing before the Pennsylvania House Transportation Committee this week, PennDOT deputy secretary Toby Fauver, whose department agreed to pay $3.8 million to keep the Pennsylvanian running, said the subsidy amounts to $15 to $16 per passenger, and called the current fares “low,” saying they may have to be raised. Stay tuned.

The Harrisburg-Philadelphia-New York Keystone route had a 5.2 percent ridership gain for the six-month period.

----------

All taxed out, bunky? The Gateway Clipper wants to give you a discount. For one day only, tax day, Monday, April 15, cruises will be 25 percent off. Visit www.gatewayclipper.com for more information.

----------

ICYMI: American Airlines will start nonstop service from Pittsburgh International Airport to Los Angeles on Aug. 27. Read the Post-Gazette coverage here.

----------

Inbound Route 28 will be down to one lane from the 40th Street Bridge to East Ohio Street from 8 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday. We continue to hear drumbeats from the work site that construction around the 31st Street Bridge will be completed early -- maybe a year ahead of schedule. PennDOT for now is sticking with the original projection of late 2014.

Piggy driver item: PennDOT will close the outbound left lane on Route 28 at various points between Etna and Fox Chapel from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays through April 19 while its crews remove “excess litter and debris” from the side of the road.

A section of the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway will be closed this weekend for construction on the South Highland Avenue Bridge and East Liberty Transit Center projects, and repairs to the Neville Ramp, Port Authority announced. The closure will begin at midnight on Saturday and conclude by the start of service on Monday, causing detour of the P1 East Busway-All Stops route through East Liberty. The route will not serve Penn, Herron, Negley and East Liberty stations during the closure, and will instead use Bigelow Boulevard, Baum Boulevard and Penn Avenue between Downtown and the busway ramp at Port Authority’s East Liberty bus garage. Temporary stops will be located on local streets near the stations: Bigelow at Herron, Baum at Roup/Negley and Penn near the East Liberty Target. Additionally, the P1’s Downtown stops will change slightly during the detour. P1 riders should allow for extra travel time during the work.

Travel on Interstate 79 in Butler County is going to get more complicated starting on Saturday. Starting then, northbound traffic will be shifted to the southbound side of the highway, with single-lane traffic in both directions, at a bridge replacement project at the Route 422 interchange, Exit 99 in Muddycreek. Delays are likely from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday while crews make the transition. The two-year, $14 million project will replace both bridges. Next season, southbound traffic will be crossed to the northbound side. About 25,000 vehicles use that section of highway on a typical day. Also on Saturday, the ramp from eastbound Route 422 to northbound I-79 will close at about 7 a.m. and remain closed through late July.

Lane closures and restrictions are possible on Route 837-State Street from the Glassport-Clairton Bridge to New England Road in Clairton and on Route 148 from the Port Vue-15th Street Bridge to Lysle Boulevard in McKeesport from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. weekdays starting Monday and continuing through June for resurfacing.

The bridge at the end of Duncan Avenue in Hampton, where it connects to Route 8, will close April 22 for replacement.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

@pgtraffic on Twitter

Like us on Facebook at Pittsburgh On the Go