Also closing, Route 28 ramps at the Highland Park Bridge

The date on the calendar and snow on the ground indicate it’s still winter, but the Pennsylvania Department  of Transportation is ready to resume construction on the ramp from the Highland Park Bridge to Route 28 south.

Work on the southbound ramp is scheduled to resume 7 a.m. Monday.

Golden Triangle Construction had worked on the ramp for several months last fall until suspending the work for the winter in mid-December. The three-year project to add separate exit lanes to the bridge to create a continuous flow of two lanes of traffic in each direction from Pittsburgh’s North Side to Kittanning should finish by the end of the year.

Before that closure begins, crews will close the northbound bridge ramp to northbound Freeport Road from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday for underground drainage work on the ramp, weather permitting. Traffic will be detoured by continuing on the bridge past the Freeport Road exit to the Sharpsburg exit and turn left on Freeport Road.

The southbound ramp work that resumes on Monday could cause headaches on the northbound side of the bridge, where traffic already is reduced to one lane for construction. The department recommends motorists who normally use the bridge to head south on Route 28 use the 61st Street Bridge instead.

If there are no delays, the southbound ramp should open May 19.

Other remaining work on the $47.3 million project includes installing a traffic light at the northern end of the bridge, where traffic from Freeport Road heading south on Route 28 faces a dangerous crossover. The northbound ramp from Route 28 to the bridge also will be finished, eliminating the need for an immediate merge, and the first sound walls in the area with an artistic design will be installed.