This will be a busy week on local roads with several new projects starting and changes to ongoing work zones. Here’s the breakdown:
- Main Street — This East Pittsburgh street will close for two weeks beginning at 6 a.m. Monday, causing detours and the use of a private shuttle bus to connect commuters with Pittsburgh Regional Transit routes. The road will close between Howard and Center streets as part of a project to remove bricks and install an asphalt surface on Main and Center streets and Brinton Avenue between Route 30 in East Pittsburgh and Bowers Street in North Braddock. Because of this phase of work, PRT’s P68 will not serve stops on Main Street, Pallas Street and Brinton Avenue. An Elite Coach provided by the contractor will run from 5:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on weekdays and from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday between the Dynamo Way-Electric Avenue intersection in East Pittsburgh and the Braddock Hills Shopping Plaza on Yost Boulevard. Riders can transfer from the PennDOT shuttle to routes P68, 59, and 61A and B. Detours will be posted for other traffic. Main Street work will be finished by the end of the day on Aug. 11, but the full project won’t finish until the end of the year.
- Big Sewickley Creek Road — Slide remediation work will close this road in Economy at 7 a.m. Tuesday through late August between Maude Davis Lane and Zassick Drive. In addition to dealing with the slide, crews will improve drainage and reconstruct the shoulder of the road. Detours will be posted.
- Pine and Marshall — Various roads will have a new surface of tar and chips placed Monday through Friday between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily. These roads will have single-lane alternating traffic: Pearce Mill Road between Brown and Warrendale roads in Pine; Mars Road between Warrendale Road and the Butler County line in Pine; Warrendale Road between Babcock Boulevard and Graham Road-Warrendale Bayne Road in Pine; Wallace Road between Graham Road-Warrendale Bayne Road and Perry Highway in Pine; Graham Road between Wallace Road and Pearce Mill Road in Pine; Warrendale Bayne Road between Wallace Road-Bakerstown Road in Pine and Wheatland Road in Marshall; Franklin Road between Warrendale Bayne Road and the Butler County line in Pine; Freeport Road between Franklin Road in Pine and Sheraton Drive in Marshall; and North Chapel Road between Wexford Road and Perry Highway in Pine.
- Route 28 — Conduit installation work for the Route 28 system to warn drivers going the wrong way will take place on the shoulders from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday on the southbound Route 28 off-ramp to Fox Chapel Road and Wednesday through Friday on the southbound off-ramp to Route 910 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The $4.8 million system will open early next year.
- Parkway East 1 — Work on a retaining wall just past the outbound end of the Squirrel Hill Tunnel will continue this week, reducing traffic to one lane between the tunnel and the Edgewood-Swissvale interchange and closing the outbound on-ramp at Beechwood Boulevard between 3 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. The work is part of the $95.1 million project to replace the Commercial Street Bridge just outside the outbound tunnel.
- Parkway East 2 — Traffic will be reduced to one lane outbound between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Monday through Thursday between the Birmingham Bridge and Squirrel Hill Tunnel. Crews will be making concrete, median barrier and asphalt improvements.
- Fort Duquesne Bridge — The bridge between Downtown Pittsburgh and the North Shore will have single-lane restrictions from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday and Tuesday for inspection activities. On Monday, southbound traffic will be restricted on the southbound Interstate 279 approach ramp to the bridge. On Tuesday, northbound traffic will be restricted between the bridge and exit at Route 28 north-Chestnut Street-East Ohio Street-Etna off-ramp.
- Parkway West — A lane and shoulder restriction will limit traffic on the ramp from Route 51-Route 19 to outbound Parkway West from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday for drilling operations.
- Fifth Avenue — Utility work by Duquesne Light Co. will cause an inbound lane restriction between Simonton Street and Thomas Boulevard in Point Breeze North from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Access will be maintained to Rainbow Street.
- Verona Road — Drilling operations between Mount Carmel and Lincoln roads in Penn Hills will cause alternating single-lane traffic Monday through Wednesday.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.