ROSSLYN FARMS, Pa. — After an extended closure, repair work on the Rosslyn Road Bridge is set to get begin Friday night. It will impact overnight drivers on the Parkway West.
“It’s certainly an inconvenience and we appreciate everybody’s patience,” said Jason Zang, PennDOT’s assistant District 11 executive for construction.
The Parkway West inbound lanes will be closed between Interstate 79 and the bridge from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 p.m. to 10 a.m. Friday through Saturday.
“Hopefully at night the traffic volumes will be lower and our detour basically takes people through Carnegie and back onto the Parkway on the other side there,” said Zang.
The closure will allow crews to repair damage caused when a truck hit the bridge while passing underneath it earlier this year.
“It severely damaged one of the primary girders that support the bridge,” said Zang. “It’s a fracture critical bridge. It’s not something we can take lightly. It has to be repaired.”
PennDot said the work has to be completed from below, in the Parkway West inbound lanes.
Because of the nature of the job, Zang explained this nearly $500,000 project cannot be rushed.
“Anytime you heat straighten a bridge like that, you have to be very careful,” he said. “You can’t overheat the steel, you can’t cool it too quickly or you can make the steel brittle and actually do more harm than good.”
The work is expected to be completed by the middle of next month. Traffic will not be shut down on the Labor Day weekend.
PennDot Detours:
Eastbound I-376 (Parkway West) Detour
- From eastbound (inbound) I-376, motorists will exit I-376 at the I-79 south (Exit 64A) interchange towards Washington
- Follow I-79 south to the Carnegie (Exit 57) interchange off-ramp
- At the end of the off-ramp, turn left onto West Main Street
- West Main Street becomes Mansfield Boulevard
- Turn right onto Chestnut Street
- Turn left onto Academy Street
- Take the ramp to East 376 toward Pittsburgh
- End detour
Northbound I-79
- From northbound I-79, take the Carnegie (Exit 57) off-ramp (This exit is prior to the I-376 interchange)
- Turn right onto West Main Street
- West Main Street becomes Mansfield Boulevard
- Turn right onto Chestnut Street
- Turn left onto Academy Street
- Take the ramp to East 376 toward Pittsburgh
- End detour
Southbound I-79
- From southbound I-79, continue past the closed ramp to I-376
- Follow I-79 south to the Carnegie (Exit 57) interchange off-ramp
- At the end of the off-ramp, turn left onto West Main Street
- West Main Street becomes Mansfield Boulevard
- Turn right onto Chestnut Street
- Turn left onto Academy Street
- Take the ramp to East 376 toward Pittsburgh
- End detour
Westbound (outbound) I-376 will not be impacted.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
This browser does not support the video element.