After working for more than seven years on plans and construction for the Highland Park Bridge’s interchange with Route 28, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is shifting its attention to the bridge itself and ramps on the city side of the structure.

PennDOT and the Federal Highway Administration will hold a virtual meeting at 5 p.m. Wednesday to discuss plans under development for the bridge and ramps. At this point, work is scheduled to start during the 2027 construction season.

When it first discussed plans for the Route 28 interchange in late 2017, PennDOT officials said that would be the first of two projects. The second would focus on the bridge itself, the ramps approaching it on the city side and perhaps the busy interchange with Washington Boulevard.

Now, the department is ready to present preliminary plans for work on the 2,423-foot bridge and four ramps. The bridge crosses the Allegheny River tracks for the Allegheny Valley and Norfolk Southern railroads between Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood and O’Hara.

The bridge is the primary connection to the Oakland area for motorists from the Allegheny Valley and North Hills areas. It is just upriver from the Highland Park lock and dam.

Department officials weren’t available to discuss the project in advance of the meeting, but its website says the bridge preservation work will include steel and concrete repairs, bearing and expansion dam replacements, improvements to sign structures, painting, and deck treatment.

Additionally, there will be four ramp reconstructions, three bridge deck replacements, drainage improvements and barrier/curb replacements and repairs where the bridge connects with Route 8 on the city side.

The current bridge opened in 1939 and had its last major rehabilitation in 1986.

This project follows three years of construction that ended last year on the Route 28 end of the bridge that added exclusive ramps to the bridge to create free-flowing traffic on the highway from Pittsburgh’s North Side to Kittanning. It also created a safer merge point for motorists going from Route 28 to the bridge, improved connections with local communities such as Millvale and Aspinwall, and installed a traffic light at a merge point from the bridge to Route 28.

Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.

Ed Blazina

Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.