PennDOT to test wrong-way detection system on Route 28

Crews will begin testing the new system this week to detect drivers going the wrong way on Route 28.

Over the past few months, Power Contracting Co. has been installing conduit and other components of the $4.8 million system on ramps between Anderson Street on Pittsburgh’s North Side and the Harmar interchange. Enough of that equipment is in place to allow testing to begin this week.

Each night beginning Monday, crews will work from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next morning to test the equipment. The work will cause occasional traffic stoppages of 15 minutes or less at the following ramps:

• Northbound off-ramps at Delafield Avenue; Fox Chapel Road/Waterworks Drive/Freeport Road (the left ramp to Fox Chapel Road and the right ramp to Waterworks Drive/Freeport Road); Blawnox; and Harmar.
• Southbound ramps at Fox Chapel Road and Blawnox.

State police will assist with the closures.

The warning system will use sensors, detectors and cameras to identify drivers going the wrong way and activate signs and lights to warn drivers. The activation also will notify the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s Western Regional Traffic Management Center, which will contact state police.

It is expected to begin operation in early spring.

Other new road projects or projects with changes this week include:

• Rich Hill Road — Slide repair work will close the road at 7 a.m. Monday between Mill Dam Road and the Russellton-Dorseyville Road-Michael Road intersection. Crews will repair the slide and reconstruct the shoulder. Work is expected to last until late October. Detours will be posted.
• Glenwood Bridge — All lanes are open on the bridge after the completion of a bridge preservation project that began in March 2024. The $8.1 million project included repairs to the steel, deck, pier, sidewalk and drainage; replacing barriers and expansion dams; and painting, concrete cleaning and sealing. The 2,276-foot bridge carries an average of 17,497 vehicles a day across the Monongahela River between Hazelwood and Hays in Pittsburgh.
• Route 50 — Single-lane restrictions will continue on weekdays between Interstate 79 and Mayer Street from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. The restrictions will allow crews to perform finishing work such as sign installation, utility relocation and side road adjustments as part of the $5.61 million project to add left-turn lanes at the Vanadium Road intersection, redesign the intersection, and eliminate dual driveways at Eat’n Park and the former Peter’s Place.
• Fort Duquesne Bridge — The ramp from Route 65 to the bridge will close from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday for deck and barrier work. Ramps from Allegheny Avenue/Ridge Avenue/Reedsdale Street also will be closed. Single-lane restrictions also will occur from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily as needed through late December on portions of West General Robinson Street, Reedsdale Street, Tony Dorsett Drive and North Shore Drive. The closures will allow crews to continue work to improve concrete and other elements underneath the bridge.
• Hall Station Bridge — Work to improve expansion dams on the bridge on Route 22 over Thompson Run Road in Monroeville and Wilkins will begin at 7 a.m. Monday and last through late December. Crews will work until 5 p.m. daily. The work is part of the $23.8 million project to improve Business Route 22 from Wilkins to Route 48 in Monroeville.
• Interstate 79 — Shoulder restrictions will continue from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays on the highway from about 1.5 miles north of the I-79 split with Interstate 279 to the Mingo Road interchange, including the ramps at the Wexford interchange, through mid-October. The work, part of a $46.5 million project to redesign the Wexford interchange at Route 910, will include building a temporary northbound off-ramp to Route 910.