Pittsburgh Regional Transit is seeking bids for major upgrades to the Panhandle Bridge, which provides the only access from the South Hills to Downtown Pittsburgh for the light rail system.
The agency advertised the project, expected to cost about $82 million for design and construction, last week. Bids are due Oct. 14, and about 2½ years of construction is expected to begin next summer on the ¾-mile structure that crosses the Monongahela River from Station Square on the South Side to First Avenue, Downtown.
Work on the structure, which opened in 1903 as a railroad bridge, will include improvements to its substructure and masonry, tracks, lights and electrical work. It also will be painted.
Amy Silbermann, PRT’s chief development officer, said the bridge is expected to remain open to one lane of alternating traffic throughout the project while crews work on the other lane. Because the work area is less than a mile, trains shouldn’t be delayed more than two or three minutes.
Upgrading the bridge has been one of the agency’s top priorities for years because it has been rated in fair condition – one step above poor – since 2004. After years of lobbying, it has set aside $67 million in federal, state and local funds and expects to have it fully funded before work begins.
The agency acquired the bridge in the early 1980s when it started the light rail system to the South Hills to replace the former trolley network. It hasn’t had any major upgrades since then.
This project is considered particularly complicated because the bridge passes over two sets of railroad tracks, city streets, the Parkway East and the Monongahela River. That means construction will have to be coordinated with several other governments and agencies.
Most of the work will be at the deck level of the bridge or below, but there is steel preservation work above the tracks. That work may have to be done overnight when there isn’t any traffic on the bridge.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.