The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has laid out plans for more than $300 million in road and bridge improvements in Allegheny County in 2009. That is about equal to the amount spent in 2008. Work to improve the Parkway East will continue. For the next two years that work will focus on the section of highway from Monroeville to the Turnpike. The good news is that there will not be any full closures and usually two lanes will be flowing during peak hours.
Work on the Parkway North will also continue in 2009. This time the cones and barrels will move further north with the work focusing on the area between Mc Knight Road and the 279-79 merge.
Northbound RT 28 in Etna will be closed all summer as Penn Dot works on that interchange. Crews will also be resurfacing RT 28 all the way out to the Butler County line.
To the west of the city work around the missing ramps project continues. Although the ramps are open to traffic there is still work to be done on 279 and 79. Work on the west end circle will also continue.
Penn Dot Spokesperson Jim Struzi says much of the work elsewhere in the county will focus on bridges including the ongoing rehabilitation of the McKees Rocks Bridge. He says the focus on “structurally deficient bridges” will continue. Struzi says the biggest problem is that many of the bridges in the region are old and as Penn Dot fixes deficient bridges other bridges are placed on that list.
Struzi says if the federal government comes up with a stimulus plan that includes infrastructure funding, like is being requested by several governors, Penn Dot is ready with a long list of projects. He says every year there are projects that go unfunded.
Struzi reminds everyone to drive safely in repair zones.
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