There’s another weekend of single-lane traffic on tap for inbound Route 28 — one lane open from the 40th Street Bridge to East Ohio Street from 8 p.m. today to 5 a.m. Monday.

Inspection of overhead bridges and signs continues on the Parkway West this weekend. Look for lane closures from 7:30 a.m. to noon on Saturday inbound between Parkway Center and Banksville Road and outbound between Green Tree and Carnegie. On Sunday during the same hours, watch for crews inbound between Carnegie and Green Tree.

A reminder that the ramp from northbound South Braddock Avenue to the inbound Parkway East is also closed this weekend.

Another reminder: Long-term single-lane traffic has begun on Interstate 79 in both directions at the U.S. 422 interchange in Butler County.

PennDOT will have the chain saws out starting Monday along the ramps at the Parkway Center interchange of the Parkway West. Tree trimming may cause lane closures or shoulder restrictions, and maybe a sore shoulder or two, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays through March 22.

Lane closures are possible on Thompson Run Road between Rodi Road and the Business Route 22 overpass from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Monday through Friday as crews take samples for a future slide repair project.

Burtner Road in Fawn was expected to reopen this afternoon after being closed since mid-January for replacement of a drainage pipe.

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Check out this description of Pennsylvania’s transportation system by PennDOT deputy secretary (and former secretary) Brad Mallory, in an interview with Highway Builder magazine:

“It’s difficult to get your arms around, or your head around a problem as large as transportation funding because it relates to so many aspects. A useful way to think about this is your own home. Let’s say you live in a brand new house. And maybe you don’t take the care of it that you should. Frankly, it will be many years before your mistakes haunt you, before the bill comes due. But let’s imagine that you live in a very old home, and the roof hasn’t been maintained for many, many years, and you make a few critical mistakes, and all of a sudden, literally, there is water pouring down the middle of your house, destroying framing, creating mold, you’re moving out, it’s 10, 20, 30 thousand dollars in terms of repair. That’s Pennsylvania’s transportation system.”

The entire article is here. Video of the interview is here.

Following up on Wednesday’s post, the House approved the continuing resolution that cuts transportation funding. The Detroit News has the story:

The U.S. House on Wednesday approved a bill that funds the government’s operations through Sept. 30, but cuts nearly $50 million from highway safety grants.

The 267-151 vote makes some cuts that raised criticism from some key Democratic senators.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s grants for seat belt, distracted driving, motorcycle safety and drunk driving crackdowns would be cut by about 9 percent — from $550.3 million to $501.8 million.

“We are also very concerned that the full-year continuing resolution would harm efforts to improve the safety of our transportation system,” said Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Tim Johnson, D-S.D., in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner on Tuesday.

“Funding reductions in the continuing resolution would also hamper efforts to enhance and enforce vital safety requirements for cars, trucks and buses,” the letter also said.

Six major highway safety organizations earlier this week called on Congress to fully fund the performance-based incentive funding for states to address key areas of highway safety that include impaired driving, distracted driving, occupant protection, motorcycle safety, traffic records and improving graduated driver licensing laws.

The full story is here.

Footnote: In addition to the lost highway safety money, Politico.com reports that the measure cuts funding by $555 million for highways and $117 million for public transit from levels just approved by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama last summer. Those cuts will trickle down to Pennsylvania, presumably through the leaking roof. The Senate has yet to act on a continuing resolution.

Maintenance work will reduce traffic to one lane on both sides of the Fort Pitt Tunnels from 10 p.m. today through 5 a.m. Friday.

The Pennsylvania Turnpike will be closed in both directions for bridge demolition between Butler Valley and Allegheny Valley from 11:59 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday.

And a reminder: Interstate 79 is down to one lane in both directions long-term at U.S. 422 in Muddycreek, Butler County. Crews are building crossovers for a bridge replacement project that will keep that restriction in place for the next two construction seasons. Big delays are possible.

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A “continuing resolution” now pending in the U.S. House — a stopgap measure to keep the federal government operating while Congress dithers over more permanent budget legislation — would slash transportation funding that was just approved in last year’s long-overdue transportation authorization law, advocates are warning.

The law, MAP-21, passed nearly three years late after nine extensions of the previous law, basically preserved funding at previous levels (at a time when the consensus is that we need to be spending much more on transportation infrastructure). Now the House appears poised to tighten the belt even more, evidently not too concerned about those 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the landscape, used by nearly 283 million vehicles per day.

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials issued this statement:

“We are disappointed with the surface transportation investment levels contained in the proposed House continuing resolution, which fails to meet funding levels from MAP-21 passed by the Congress just nine months ago,” said Bud Wright, AASHTO executive director. “At a time when our economy continues to struggle to regain its footing, any reduction in transportation infrastructure investment only exacerbates that problem. We are also concerned that the proposed bill freezes funding for certain safety programs at a time when highway fatalities may again be on the rise.”

Travelers on Interstate 79 in Butler County will face two years of single-lane traffic starting Thursday at the Route 422 interchange (Exit 99) in Muddycreek because of a bridge replacement project. The left lane will close in both directions at 7 a.m. as crews continue to build a crossover. Eventually, northbound traffic will cross to the southbound side, which will have one lane in both directions as the northbound bridge over Route 422 is replaced. The pattern will reverse itself next year for replacement of the southbound span. The $14 million project includes ramp and roadway construction and installation of three digital message signs and a traffic camera. Expect delays.

The ramp from northbound South Braddock Avenue to the westbound Parkway East in Edgewood and Swissvale will close from 9 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday. Since all four major compass points figured into that last statement, we’re hoping you are as confused as us. We’ll clarify: if you are driving from the shopping mall toward Edgewood, you won’t be able to use the looping ramp to the inbound parkway. OK, we’ll show you a picture.

There are two detours: daylight via South Braddock to a left on Forbes Avenue, left on Beechwood Boulevard, right on Forward Avenue; nights, use Murray Avenue instead of Beechwood. Resist the urge to just hang a u-ie.

Inspection of the New Kensington Bridge carrying Ninth Street over the Allegheny River in East Deer will limit traffic to an alternating one-way pattern from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through March 18.

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According to the Brookings Institution, Amtrak is fueling a “renaissance” in passenger rail transportation in the U.S. Ridership “is now at record levels and growing fast,” according to a report released last week.

Here are some of the institution’s findings:

Amtrak ridership grew by 55 percent since 1997, faster than other major travel modes, and now carries over 31 million riders annually, an all-time high.

The 100 largest metropolitan areas generate nearly 90 percent of Amtrak’s ridership, especially those in the Northeast and West.

Only 10 metropolitan areas are responsible for almost two-thirds of Amtrak ridership.

The short distance routes consistently dominate Amtrak ridership share and captured nearly all of Amtrak’s recent growth.

Combined, Amtrak’s short-distance corridors generated a positive operating balance in 2011 ($47 million) — while corridors over 400 miles returned a negative operating balance ($614 million).

The report includes an interactive map breaking down ridership trends, and therein some good news for Pittsburgh, which is threatened with the loss of Pennsylvanian service, one of the two routes serving the ‘Burgh. Ridership here, as measured in boardings and alightings, grew 12.6 percent from 1997 to 2012, despite reductions in service, the relatively slow service to Harrisburg and terribly inconvenient arrival and departure times for the Capitol Limited, our other train.

Ridership on the Pennsylvanian (Pittsburgh-Harrisburg-Philadelphia) grew by 32.5 percent over the period; the Capitol Limited (Chicago-Pittsburgh-Washington, D.C.) grew by 26.8 percent, according to Brookings.

Looking at numbers for Harrisburg and Philadelphia shows what frequent, reliable, fast service can do: Harrisburg saw a 244.9 percent ridership growth over the period studied; the Philadelphia metro area ridership grew 26 percent, with 5.3 million passengers getting on or off last year.

Ridership on the Keystone route (Harrisburg-Philadelphia-New York), a true Pennsylvania success story, grew by 221.4 percent.

PennDOT has released Pennsylvania’s first-ever Transportation Performance Report, a detailed rating of the state’s efforts in safety, mobility, system preservation and accountability, “with the results underscoring the need for additional transportation investment,” according to the department.

This is a nice read for transportation geeks, bulging with statistics about highways, bridges, transit systems and other modes, with an assessment of the relative health of each. Link to it here.

The bridge carrying Middle Road over the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Hampton will close for nine months next Monday. The turnpike is replacing six bridges in Hampton, Indiana Township and Harmar to make way for a widening project on eight miles of the toll road.

Inspection of overhead structures on Route 51 in the area of the Parkway West may cause lane closures and traffic shifts from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily through Thursday.

Night work will cause restrictions on Route 228 in both directions, on Route 19 south and Interstate 79 in Cranberry starting next Monday, according to PennDOT District 10 spokeswoman Deborah Casadei. The restrictions will be in place from 9 p.m. Monday through Friday until 6 a.m. the next day, for two weeks. Ms. Casadei cautions that the work might begin an hour early if traffic is light enough.

On Route 228, traffic will be limited to one lane both ways. One left-turn lane will be closed on Route 19 south to accommodate the restriction. Next Monday only, 15-minute closures are possible on I-79 southbound at Evans City and northbound at Wexford, and on the ramps to northbound I-79 from Route 228 and from the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

And in case you missed it, these bridges closed today for repair or replacement: the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge in Beaver County, the South Highland Avenue Bridge in Shadyside and the Levi Bird Duff Bridge over the Parkway North in Ross.

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