Changing traffic patterns to go into place this weekend for Veterans Bridge ramp repairs
It's time for the next major step in the repair of the piers holding up the ramps on the north end of the Veterans Bridge, so get ready to relearn your driving habits as PennDOT will begin the next phase on Friday.
A month ago, they closed the HOV lane to get ready, and beginning tomorrow night, 46,000 drivers will be detoured.
You've certainly seen the sign structures going up and getting ready, but now it's time for their big reveal, and there's work to do.
"Friday night, at 9 p.m. until Saturday morning at 10 a.m., we'll take traffic down to a single lane [at] 279 southbound," said Doug Thompson, PennDOT District 11 Assistant Executive of Construction.
This is so they can open up the jersey barrier and prepare to shift 579-Veterans Bridge-bound traffic into the HOV lane just past the Swindell Bridge.
"That's where this crossover will be," Thompson said. "We're paving that Friday night and covering some signs."
Thompson made sure to mention that PennDOT is well aware that Picklesburgh is this weekend.
"We want to make sure that the people traveling to the event from the north for the weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, can get to that event without traffic restrictions," he said.
The inbound Parkway will have two lanes open by 10 a.m. on Saturday morning, and the work will resume at 6 p.m.
That is when the signs, which have taken drivers to the Veterans Bridge in the right lanes for 36 years, will be covered, and the temporary signs will be uncovered. Exactly the opposite of what drivers are used to.
"The left lane will be left only into 579 south, the center lane [is the] decision point," Thompson explained. "You can either go left into 579 or stay straight onto 279, and then the right lane is 279 south only."
Despite there being an overload of signage, Thompson does expect there to be some confusion in the first couple of days.
He also said there could be some backups. Starting tomorrow night at 9, the ramp to the Veterans Bridge from southbound Route 28 will be closed, and its 11,000 drivers detoured.
The work to repair the southbound piers will take until mid-to-late-September and then they'll switch it over to the northbound side at or around Thanksgiving.
