Route 28 has earned a dangerous reputation after dozens of wrong-way crashes that claimed lives and racked up damage.
PennDOT will usher in new technology this month to turn that around.
A $4.8 million safety detection project will target 21 ramps along the expressway — a stretch where 30 wrong-way crashes were recorded from 2019 to 2023, PennDOT District 11 Traffic Engineer Stephanie Zolnak said.
The safety detection project is the first of its kind in the district. It is expected to be fully operational by next spring .
Work is scheduled to begin this month with crews installing cameras, lights, infrared technology, radar and sensors to detect vehicles traveling in the wrong direction on Route 28 ramps, both northbound and southbound, from Harmar to Pittsburgh.
LED lights will flash when someone enters an off-ramp. They are meant to catch the driver’s attention and give them time to turn around, Zolnak said.
If a vehicle makes it to the highway, thermal imaging cameras will send information to a regional traffic management center to alert emergency services.
“This is absolutely an increase in safety,” said Indiana Township police Chief Steven Colucci.
“Anything you put on any of the ramps to stop people will help everyone that’s on the road.”
Mike Naviglia, chief of the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department, agreed. His department covers Springdale Township, Cheswick and East Deer.
Naviglia has never responded to a wrong-way crash, but his officers have been called to track down people driving the wrong direction.
“Anything for safety, I’m all for it,” he said.
In just the past five years, at least a dozen people riding in cars have died or been seriously injured in wrong-way crashes along the highway.
In June 2022, a woman from Pittsburgh’s Crafton Heights neighborhood was charged with child endangerment after a collision that injured eight children and three adults.
The driver traveled north in the southbound lanes. She told police she missed her exit and made a wrong turn while following her GPS.
In February 2021, an SUV crash killed two people after the vehicle entered Route 28 from Anderson Street on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. It crashed into another vehicle traveling south on the highway near the East Ohio Street exit.
Another crash from 2021 saw at least one person taken to the hospital after driving in the wrong direction near the Highland Park Bridge. State police said a pickup truck was traveling south in the northbound lanes from Fox Chapel to the Etna exit.
The pickup hit multiple vehicles while traveling the wrong way.
“Route 28 has been a challenging corridor with its high speed,” Zolnak said. “We want to implement this new technology to counteract these trends and save lives.”
Sharpsburg police Chief Tom Stelitano called the project a great idea.
“We currently have a lot of traffic coming through the borough, and we have a lot of road work being done,” he said. “I hope this helps.”
Zolnak said along Route 28, there currently are signs to alert drivers to the flow of traffic but “there was a need to do more” and give everyone, including other motorists, an edge.
“Once the information comes in to our regional traffic management center that someone is traveling the wrong way, our system will be pushing information to roadside signs so motorists will be aware that they may interact with someone going the wrong direction,” she said.
“We want to take it to the next level and provide the safest roads for everyone.”
The initiative was among 57 projects released by PennDOT District 11 that will be bid this year in Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties.
PennDOT is expected to spend more than $537 million in the three-county greater Pittsburgh region. It includes rehabilitating or reconstructing 551 miles of highways and working on 43 bridges.