Construction project causing headaches near Highland Park Bridge

PITTSBURGH — A traffic nightmare is causing headaches near the Highland Park Bridge.

11 News has been warning you about the closure, and now it’s here, and really causing problems.

Cars sitting in a line of rush-hour traffic stretched for miles down Freeport Road in Aspinwall and Sharpsburg boroughs Tuesday.

“Just bumper to bumper all the way down from Waterworks, basically to the Highland Park Bridge,” said James Santelli of Aspinwall.

The ramps connecting the Highland Park Bridge to Aspinwall and Route 28 were closed Monday for repairs. It’s part of a three-year ongoing $47 million PennDOT project to ease traffic flow at the 28 interchanges.

Erin Hanna works at esSpa salon nearby and said major backups this morning doubled her commute to nearly an hour.

“We’ve already had clients running late, which means it pushes everything back,” Hanna said.  “Also, clients canceling because they’re stuck in traffic so they can’t make it to their appointment on time.”

For some people, the timing couldn’t be worse. Several parents said the closure is causing bus delays with some students in the Fox Chapel school district getting dropped off at home up to an hour late.

The school district sent out an email about possible delays.

“School’s going to be done in two more weeks,” said Hanna. “They could’ve waited.”

Channel 11 News reporter Antoinette DelBel took that question to PennDOT. Spokesperson Steve Cowan said waiting would have pushed back their timeline to finish the project.

Meantime, to keep traffic moving, PennDOT officials said they’ve beefed up police presence at some intersections,  posted detour signs, and are working to sync traffic lights.

After a couple of weeks they expect the congestion to die down, but for now, some drivers will have to pack their patience.

“I appreciate the work that’s being done here by PennDOT,” said Santelli. “It just seems when you get into summertime, these are the kinds of things that happen when you have construction.”

The ramps are expected to be closed through mid-September. The entire Route 28 Highland Park Bridge project is expected to wrap up by October.

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