It’s another weekend of road work restrictions, this time topped with continuing projects on McKnight Road in the North Hills and Interstate 79 South in Pittsburgh’s western suburbs.
In the case of both projects, there will be work this weekend as well as longer-term traffic changes.
McKnight Road
At 7 p.m. Friday, traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction between Nelson Run Road and Braunlich Drive until 6 a.m. Monday while crews make repairs to the concrete beam on the bridge that carries the highway over the Evergreen Road-Babcock Boulevard interchange.
An hour later, two long-term changes begin.
Traffic between the Evergreen-Babcock interchange and Park Place will be reduced to one lane in each direction through early September. A similar configuration will begin at the same time between Browns Lane and Perrymont Road through late August.
Vehicles will still have access to businesses in those areas during the work.
And beginning Monday, traffic will be limited to one lane each way from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. nightly between East Street and the Evergreen-Babcock interchange. Crews will conduct milling and paving work through mid-August.
The work is part of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s $27 million project to improve McKnight between Venture Street on Pittsburgh’s North Side and Perrymont Road in McCandless. Lindy Paving Inc. is the prime contractor for the project, which should finish next spring.
I-79 South
Southbound Interstate 79 will be reduced to one lane from 7 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Monday between the Route 60 Moon Run/Crafton and Interstate 376/Pittsburgh interchanges.
Crews for Golden Triangle Construction Co. Inc. will be doing concrete patching during that time. Southbound on and off ramps will remain open.
Then on Monday, there will be a change in the traffic pattern on the highway at the I-376 interchange with preparatory work beginning at 7 p.m. All traffic will be shifted to the left and will use two 11-foot-wide lanes with a 1-foot shoulder.
The new traffic pattern will be in place until mid-August while crews do deck overlay work on a bridge. Access to all interchange ramps will be maintained.
The work is part of a $15 million project to upgrade the highway and 10 ramps, four at the I-376 interchange and six at the Route 60 interchange. Six bridges also will get preservation work before the project is finished late next spring.
Ed covers transportation at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at eblazina@unionprogress.com.