Reconstruction of the Highland Park Bridge interchange with Route 28 moves into another phase Monday when one lane of the bridge approaching the Route 28 south exit is closed through late August.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said the left lane of the bridge will be closed near the ramp at 7 a.m. Monday for reconstruction. All traffic will use the right lane, but motorists still will be able to use the exit ramp to go south on Route 28.
This is the latest change in the department’s $47.3 million project to add separate entrance and exit lanes in each direction around the interchange. When the project is finished by the end of the year, motorists should have two lanes of continuous traffic from Pittsburgh’s North Side to Kittanning with no traffic lights.
Right now, through traffic on Route 28 is reduced to one lane in each direction at the bridge. That regularly creates traffic backups during morning and evening rush hours.
At some point this summer, PennDOT spokesman Steve Cowan said, the exit to southbound Route 28 also will be closed while crews for Golden Triangle Construction finish connecting the bridge surface to the reconstructed ramp. That ramp was closed for several months last year.
In addition to better traffic movement on the highway, the project also includes safety improvements on the bridge itself.
Plans call for adding a traffic signal on the Route 28 end of the bridge where traffic merges from Freeport Road. Right now, motorists on Freeport road heading for Route 28 south have to make a quick merge left across traffic to get to the southbound ramp, so the traffic light will make that a safer situation.
Similarly, northbound traffic that exits onto the bridge has to merge immediately into the left lane. When the project is done, northbound motorists who exit to the bridge will have their own right lane and can merge left on the bridge later if they want to head toward Washington Boulevard.
On Route 28, the project includes road reconstruction from North Canal Street/Kittanning Pike south of the bridge to the Delafield Avenue interchange north of the bridge.
Sound barriers that feature art work — the first of their kind in this area — also will be installed around the interchange.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.