Local Roads, Bridges on PennDOT Improvement List

By Submitted Report
The Tube City Almanac
March 16, 2015
Posted in: McKeesport and Region News

(Glenwood Bridge photo by Flickr user Joseph A., used under Creative Commons license.)

Major construction work will continue near the Glenwood Bridge, Lincoln Way in White Oak, and on other local state-maintained roads and bridges, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has announced.
    
PennDOT District 11 will invest an estimated $214 million on 37 projects to improve, preserve or rehabilitate transportation infrastructure including 72 bridges in Allegheny County in 2015, Dan Cessna, district executive, announced. Forty-three of those bridges are currently listed as "structurally deficient."

In addition, 133 miles of roadway will be paved or resurfaced and more than $16.1 million will be invested in tunnel maintenance and improvements.

• Major work will continue around the Glenwood Bridge, which connects Pittsburgh's Hazelwood and Hays neighborhoods and serves as an important commuter link between Pittsburgh and McKeesport.

The current $11.1 million project includes the replacement of four culverts on Route 885 just south of the Glenwood Bridge. Three culverts will be replaced in their current location. The fourth will be replaced with two culverts and an open channel.

Current work includes sewer line relocation and the construction of a culvert on Glass Run Road. Additionally, concrete repairs on two existing retaining walls, signal upgrades at two intersections and milling and resurfacing of the entire project will be conducted this year. Detours will occur during culvert replacement work.

In addition, in a separate $14 million to $17 million project that will begin in August, six structures in the Glenwood Bridge Interchange will undergo rehabilitation work including deck replacement and concrete substructure repairs. Additionally, steel repairs and painting will occur on four bridges.

The project will conclude at the end of the 2016 construction season.

• Work also will continue on Lincoln Way in White Oak, where a $6.9 million congestion improvement project includes widening to add turning lanes, intersection realignment, milling and resurfacing, drainage and signal upgrades on approximately 1.69 miles of the main road through the business district.

Utility relocation work was completed in 2014 and crews are currently working on drainage improvements. Roadway construction will begin in the spring and it is anticipated the overall project will be completed by June 2016.

• Major improvements will include milling and surfacing 4.3 miles of Route 51 between the Elizabeth Bridge and Coal Valley Road in Jefferson Hills, continuing work that began in May 2014. The $5.8 million project includes signal improvements, guiderail upgrades, signing and pavement marking updates and structure repairs. The project will be completed in May, a PennDOT spokesman said.

• Repair work will continue on West Smithfield Street in Lincoln Borough, which was damaged by a landslide last year. Crews stabilized the slope above the road with soil nails, removed debris and restored drainage in the slide area.

Milling and paving will occur this year, PennDOT said. The work on the nearly $1 million project is expected to wrap up in June.

• Crews will complete the $5.94 million replacement of a bridge that carries Route 885 over the Union Railroad in West Mifflin. Gate installation, pavement markings and mulching and seeding will be conducted by the end of April, PennDOT says.

• Work at the junction of Route 51 and Route 88 in Pittsburgh's South Hills also continues this year. The $18.99 million project includes the replacement of five bridges, construction of a new bridge, turning lane construction, roadway reconstruction, signal upgrades, lighting, sidewalk and drainage improvements, CCTV cameras and stream bank restoration.

Currently, work on the jug handle, one bridge and extensive utility relocation have been completed. Additionally, the first phase of work on three other bridges is finished. In 2015, the second phase of bridge work will begin, as will the reconstruction of Route 88. Lane closures, detours and full closures will occur. Overall work will conclude in the fall of 2015, with the exception of final paving, which will continue through the spring of 2016.

• Landslide remediation, roadway reconstruction and retaining wall work will occur in 2015 on Bunola River Road in Forward Twp. This $1.34 million project will address a slide located between Elkhorn Road and approximately two miles north of River Hill Road.

• In East Pittsburgh, the final phase of the Tri-Boro Bridge project is set to begin this month and end in November 2015. Painting will occur on previously rehabilitated ramps. Traffic will be maintained with one lane in each direction during the painting operations. The cost of the project is about $4 million.

• Area state-maintained roads to be paved include Beulah Road (Route 130) from McCrady Road to Lewin Lane in Churchill; and McKee Road from Jacks Run Road (Route 48) to Route 30 in North Versailles Twp.

Originally published March 16, 2015.

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