The Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission is starting work on the draft 2015-2018 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), which identifies the region’s priority transportation projects for the next four years.  The regional TIP is updated every two years. The agency is seeking public input on the plan, so here’s your chance to weigh in about the projects you’d like to see done. The categories include highways and bridges, public transit, bikeways and pedestrian facilities, freight, traffic signals, congestion, safety and air quality.

You can comment online here.

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The main entrance to the short-term parking garage at Pittsburgh International Airport was scheduled to close today as construction continues. If you’re headed there, watch for detour signs as you enter the airport property. This video shows it nicely if you have a couple minutes to watch:

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The right lane of northbound Interstate 79 was scheduled to be closed until 3 p.m. today at the bridge over Mud Hollow Road in Franklin Park. No restriction was planned southbound.

The left lane and shoulder on southbound I-79 at the bridge over Millers Run Road-Route 50 in South Fayette will be closed from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday. No northbound restrictions are planned.

Yes, the outbound Squirrel Hill Tunnel is scheduled to be closed this weekend and next. Closing time is 10 p.m. Friday with reopening by 6 a.m. Monday.

Inbound Route 28 will continue to be restricted to one lane overnight between the 40th Street Bridge and East Ohio Street. The restriction starts at 8 p.m. weeknights and ends by 5 a.m. the next day.

Freedom Road at Interstate 79 in Cranberry will have single-lane traffic starting at 8 p.m. nightly this week through Thursday, with work concluding by 6 a.m., as work continues on the ramp improvements.

Lane closures are coming on Greentree Road between Carnahan and McMonagle roads as Pennsylvania American Water installs new pipe. The work will occur weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. starting next Monday and continuing into December.

Short-term lane closures are possible on the inbound side of the 10th Street Bypass from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today through Friday during bridge washing and lane striping.

Sign work may restrict outbound traffic on West Liberty Avenue between Peola Road and Pauline Avenue from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and Tuesday.

Southbound Route 65 will be restricted to one lane in the area under the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge around the clock through July 19 as work on the bridge continues.

Road work has traffic down to one lane in both directions on Interstate 80 near Grove City-Sandy Lake (Exit 24). The eastbound restriction stretches three miles west of Exit 24 and one mile east of the exit. The restriction on the westbound lanes extends for approximately one mile east and west of Exit 24. The lanes are expected to reopen for the weekend by 1 p.m. Friday.

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Sunday is the Pittsburgh Marathon, and you can bet your jogging shorts that traffic, parking and transit will be a jumble. Bear in mind that the closures start Friday to accommodate the Saturday events. Coming Downtown without doing some planning will invite potential misery. Here are two places where you can get all the details of what will be closed, detoured or just knocked out of its usual rut. Marathon street closures and parking info here. Transit info, including details of extra service that will run on the T and the busways here.

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Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced that JetBlue has added a fourth daily nonstop flight from Pittsburgh International Airport to Boston’s Logan International. The daily schedule now looks like this: Departures from PIT at 8:45 a.m., 11:10 a.m., 5:45 p.m. and 8:51 p.m.; departures from BOS at 6:25 a.m., 8:45 a.m., 3:34 p.m. and 6:10 p.m. Flight times generally a bit more than 90 minutes.

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Mr. Fitzgerald also made it known on Wednesday that the Port Authority is “looking at” putting a bike lane on the Martin Luther King Jr. East Busway. This is a change of the authority’s previous “no way, no how” stance on busway biking. The exec acknowledged that it will be a challenge to find a way to do it safely. Parts of the busway have very little shoulder to work with.

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Lane closures are possible southbound on Freeport Road from Guys Run Road to the Hulton Bridge until 3 p.m. today.
 
Washington Road-Route 19 construction continues this weekend in Mt. Lebanon. Traffic will be limited to one lane in both directions between the Connor-Gilkeson road intersection and Cochran Road, and one lane northbound from Cochran to Alfred Street from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Monday.

Veterans Bridge inspection will cause lane and shoulder closures from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Wednesday.

The ramp from northbound Interstate 579-Crosstown Boulevard to Bigelow Boulevard will be closed around the clock from 8 a.m. Monday to 6 p.m. Friday for asphalt repairs and drainage work. The detour uses the Consol Energy Center-Centre Avenue ramp to a left on Washington Place to Bigelow.

A long-awaited project to reconstruct the intersection of Route 19 and Valley Brook Road in Peters will begin May 22. The $4.9 million project will realign and lengthen the ramp from Valley Brook Road to northbound Route 19. Valley Brook Road and Old Washington Road will have detours during the work, which is expected to continue through July 2014.

The eastbound off-ramp from Route 30 to Electric Avenue in North Braddock will close at 7 a.m. Friday and remain closed until 7 p.m. May 15 to accommodate the continuing bridge replacement project. The posted detour is to continue east on Route 30 to left on Mosside Boulevard-Route 48 to left on the Tri-Boro Expressway to Electric Avenue. The bridge project will be completed this fall.

Interstate 70 will close overnight in both directions at Jessop (Exit 16) in Washington County from May 13 to 18. During the closures, which start at 8 p.m., traffic will use off- and on-ramps to detour. The closures are necessary during placement of beams for the Sheffield Street Bridge. The highway reopens by 6 a.m.

Shoulder and lane restrictions will occur on I-70 between the Route 136-Beau Street interchange and the I-79 south junction nightly starting at 9 p.m. May 20 through June. Restrictions lift by 6 a.m. daily.

Lane closures are possible on South Braddock Avenue under the Parkway East bridge starting today. Removal of shielding under the bridge will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. for the next two weeks. No parkway restrictions are planned.

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More complications lie ahead for overnight drivers on Route 28 and the Parkway East this week. Let’s get right to it.

Inbound Route 28 will be down to one lane from the 40th Street Bridge to East Ohio Street starting at 8 p.m. today through Friday. UPDATE: PLANS FOR A FULL CLOSURE ON TUESDAY NIGHT HAVE BEEN CANCELED. The second lane reopens by 5 a.m. daily.

The ramp from northbound South Braddock Avenue to the inbound Parkway East will be closed at 9 p.m. today through Saturday for expansion dam replacement. The closures will end at 5 a.m. Tuesday through Friday but not until 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. The posted detour is to continue north to a left on Forbes Avenue, left on Murray Avenue and right on Forward Avenue to the Squirrel Hill on-ramp to the inbound parkway but many will doubtless just look for a convenient place to turn around, because the on-ramp from southbound South Braddock Avenue to the inbound parkway will be open.

Drivers get a week off from the outbound Squirrel Hill Tunnel closures this coming weekend. The next outbound closures are scheduled for the weekends of May 10 and May 17.

Sign-ery

Lane restrictions are possible on the east side of the Hulton Bridge from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays through June 29 as Duquesne Light works on new utility poles. Flag crews will be out.

Crack and joint sealing will cause overnight restrictions and slowdowns on Route 50 in both directions from Bridgeville to Carnegie starting at 8 p.m. Tuesday and every weeknight through next Monday. Work wraps by 6 a.m. daily.

Line repainting will occur on the three parkways, Interstate 79 and Route 28 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and on Saturdays until further notice. Stay well back from paint trucks unless you think your ride would look good with yellow and white splotches on it. PennDOT won’t pay for the damage.

Bridge inspections will cause lane closures on Route 65 between Kendall and Millerton avenues in Brighton Heights and Bellevue from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Friday.

Butler Street will have short-term lane restrictions at One Wild Place (the zoo entrance) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Friday.

Traffic signal work will cause short-term restrictions on Business Route 22 in Monroeville from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through May 10 at these intersections: Nottingham Drive, GP Entrance Road, Penn Center Boulevard, Northern Pike, Duff Road, Stroschein Road, Miracle Mile Driveway, McMasters Drive and Mosside Boulevard.

Traffic has been reduced to one lane on Interstate 80 eastbound in Mercer County for about 2 1/2 miles approaching the Grove City-Sandy Lake exit. The restriction is expected to end by 1 p.m. Friday.

Crews will seal coat the shoulders on Route 28 from the Allegheny County line to West Kittanning and Route 422 from the Judge Graff Bridge to the Butler County line over the coming three weeks.

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Now that the thingamajig that posts links to blogs on the homepage of post-gazette.com has been fixed — it’s been broken a lot lately and backed up like a clogged toilet starting on Tuesday — we’ll put up another edition of The Roundabout.

Wednesday’s post never made it to the homepage. It was on the site and still is if you want to look back. One thing you'll find there is details of a free Friday class for those preparing to make their first long-distance bike trip. It's Downtown during lunch hour.
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If you missed it, there was a scary moment or two in the Fort Pitt Tunnel this morning when an outbound truck started spewing smoke, which could be seen billowing from the tunnel. Turned out to be a mechanical problem, no injuries and was cleared after several minutes, but that toppled the dominoes and made getting to Downtown from all directions an ordeal. Crashes on the inbound sides of the Parkway East and Route 28 a bit later didn’t help matters.

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PennDOT announced Monday that the Chateau Street turnaround to Beaver Avenue on the North Side had been closed for construction, but in the coming days, drivers noticed something odd — it wasn’t closed. PennDOT said the contractor didn’t have all the needed signage for the detour, and that the turnaround closed today. Target date for reopening is May 31.

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The outbound Squirrel Hill Tunnel closes at 10 p.m. Friday and reopens by 6 a.m. Monday but to add to the tangle, the on-ramp to the outbound Parkway East at Edgewood-Swissvale also will be closed. The official detour moves through Wilkinsburg to the Forest Hills on-ramp.

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Reminder that the Red Line will have inbound detours this weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, inbound service will operate from South Hills Village to Overbrook Junction, then detour via the Blue Line route to South Hills Junction, where it will resume regular routing. Rail shuttles will operate between Overbrook Junction and Potomac and bus shuttles will serve stops from Potomac to South Hills Junction. Outbound service will operate normally. Inbound work and detours also are tentatively scheduled for April 27-28, May 11-12 and May 18-19.

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Late-night turnpike travelers beware: it will be closed in both directions between New Castle (Exit 10) and Cranberry (Exit 28) from 11:59 p.m. Saturday until 4 a.m. Sunday for removal of an overhead bridge. The 44-mile posted detour uses Interstate 376, Route 422 and I-79. They’ll hand you a card with directions as you exit. Also, a five-mile section will be closed in both directions between Harrisburg East (Exit 247) and Harrisburg West (Exit 242) from 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday. Crews will remove overhead bridge beams.

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The two center lanes on both decks of the Fort Pitt Bridge will be closed overnight for crash barrier repairs. On the inbound deck, the closure starts at 10 p.m.; outbound starts at 2 a.m. The work concludes by 5 a.m. Friday.

Traffic will be shifted on the ramp from Parkway Center to the inbound Parkway West from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. while inspections are done. The ramp will stay open.

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 do concrete work to improve drainage at the giant retaining wall.

Short-term lane closures are possible on Route 51 between Wray Large Road and Worthington Drive in Jefferson Hills from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. starting Monday and continuing through May 10 as crews take test borings for a future improvement project.

Periods of alternating one-way traffic will occur on the bridge that carries Culmerville Road over the Canadian Northern railroad tracks in West Deer from 9 a.m to 3 p.m. weekdays through May 22 during repairs that began today. The bridge is between Saxonburg Boulevard and Norris Lane.

Traffic will be stopped for about 15 minutes on Route 22 between the Noblestown-Kelso Road and Route 978 interchanges in North Fayette between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. Saturday during installation of fiber optic cable over the road.

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